Improbable Chair by Galeries Lafayette Art Thinking
See this page in
[FR]
The Improbable Chair by Galeries Lafayette is all about bringing together artists and entrepreneurs, linking art with business in a new way.
It supports creative practices by connecting artists with entrepreneurs, businesses with cultural institutions, and artistic creation with business strategy. It encourages everyone to embrace the "improbable" to think like creators. Through a unique method called "Art Thinking," developed at ESCP, the Galeries Lafayette group and ESCP offer a way to support, encourage, and spread the act of creation.
A few words from
Guillaume Houzé
Brand and Communications Director, Galeries Lafayette group
“The Improbable Chair is all about bringing together artists and entrepreneurs, linking art with business in a new way. It supports creative practices by connecting artists with entrepreneurs, businesses with cultural institutions, and artistic creation with business strategy. It encourages everyone to embrace the ‘improbable’ to think like creators. Through a unique method called ‘Art Thinking’, developed at ESCP, the Galeries Lafayette group and ESCP offer a way to support, encourage, and spread the act of creation.”
Guillaume Houzé, Brand and Communications Director, Galeries Lafayette group Photo Credit: ©Lucasziwel
A few words from
Sylvain Bureau
Professor at ESCP Business School
Scientific Director of the Improbable Chair
“Our initial belief was simple: to make creation accessible to as many people as possible. To achieve this, we developed a method called Art Thinking, which characterises how artists, entrepreneurs, and scientists go through similar steps in the creative process, such as gift-giving, deviating, destroying and drifting. For 15 years, our Art-Thinking seminars have trained thousands of students, entrepreneurs, managers, and researchers across a dozen countries and twenty universities and schools. Partnering with Galeries Lafayette group, a company with a strong entrepreneurial DNA, our chair combines theory and practice to amplify this approach and promote creators and creation in the broadest sense.”
Professor Sylvain Bureau, Scientific Director of the Improbable Chair
Objectives
The Chair has two major complementary goals:
- Support scientific research to better understand creative practices
- Teach the Art Thinking method and spread the Improbable pedagogy worldwide
Art Thinking not only helps participants unleash their innate creative potential; it also promotes collaboration, listening, leadership, negotiation, and constructive dialogue. Participants learn to question themselves, leverage failure, establish partnerships, and develop an agile approach to uncertainty.
Three areas of activity
- Scientific publications
- Doctoral theses and final dissertations
- Improbable Siesta: seminar bringing together researchers, artists, and experts in creation
- Spreading the Improbable method at ESCP and beyond
- Designing initial training in Art Thinking
- Training Art Thinking instructors
- Conferences and workshops on Art Thinking
- Exhibitions and Improbable openings
- Improbable residencies (artist/scientist/entrepreneur triads)
“This Chair is the story of an encounter between visionary creators who understood early on how future generations of students and entrepreneurs would need artistic and creative practices to prepare for the world of tomorrow. Through this collaboration, ESCP is grateful to the Galeries Lafayette group for opening up new playgrounds for unprecedented and improbable creations!”
Pascale Pernet, Director of chairs and corporate sponsorship
ppernet@escp.eu
Focus on...

Article
On Tuesday, 19th March 2024, Léon Laulusa, Dean and Executive President of ESCP, Jean-Stéphane Arcis, President of the ESCP Foundation, Philippe Houzé, Chairman of the Management Board of the Galeries Lafayette group, and Guillaume Houzé, Brand and Communications Director, Galeries Lafayette group, signed the first Chair dedicated to artistic and entrepreneurial creation.
Review of a book; an article; a research
2007
La Responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) : une affaire de communication ?
2007, GERER ET COMPRENDRE
Journal Article
2007
La sante est-elle un produit de luxe pour les entreprises?-Reinserer la sante dans les pratiques de gestion
REVUE ECONOMIQUE ET SOCIALE, 2007
Chapter
2007
La stratégie des marques face à la spirale de la décroissance
in L'art de la croissance., ESCP-EAP, Bain & Company (eds), Les Échos / Pearson Education / Village Mondial, pp. pp 98-104 8 p, 2007
Chapter
2007
La utilidad de las reglas de política monetaria en la lucha contra la inflación: Implicaciones para el caso español
in Integración económica en Europa: Aspectos macroeconómicos y regionales., Bajo Oscar Ed., Instituto de Estudios Fiscales, pp. 31-43, 2007
Studies and Reports commissioned by Companies and Research Agencies
2007
Lancio del turismo legato al Golf in Piemonte
2007
Paper presented in a Conference
2007
Las estrategias comunitarias hacia América Latina. De la complejidad de articular la macrodiplomacia con la microdiplomacia y las esferas nacionales con la esfera comunitaria
in Ve Congreso Europeo CEISAL de Latinoamericanistas, 2007, Bruxelles, Belgium
Paper presented in a Conference
2007
Las Vegas et l'espace hypermoderne
in Actes des 12e Journées de Recherche en Marketing de Bourgogne, Université de Bourgogne, 2007, Dijon, France
Chapter
2007
Le binôme DRH-DG
in Comités exécutifs. Voyage au coeur de la dirigeance., BOURNOIS F., DUVAL-HAMEL J., ROUSSILLON S., SCARINGELLA J-L. (eds), Editions d'Organisation, pp. pp 84-88 5 p, 2007
Chapter
2007
Le chercheur, un autobiographe malgré lui
in La sociologie clinique, Enjeux théoriques et méthodologiques., DE GAULEJAC V., HANIQUE F., ROCHE P. (eds), Erès, pp. pp 75-89 15 p, 2007
Conference Proceedings
2007
Le contre-pouvoir de la distribution : une synthèse des théories économiques, stratégiques et de marketing des canaux
in COMINDUS. 1° journée de recherche sur les relations entre industrie et grande distribution alimentaire, Université d'Avignon, 2007, Avignon, France