Improbable Chair by Galeries Lafayette Art Thinking

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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.

 

Guillaume Houzé, Brand and Communications Director, Galeries Lafayette

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

Sylvain Bureau, Scientific Director

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

Research and development

  • Scientific publications
  • Doctoral theses and final dissertations
  • Improbable Siesta: seminar bringing together researchers, artists, and experts in creation
Teaching

  • Spreading the Improbable method at ESCP and beyond
  • Designing initial training in Art Thinking
  • Training Art Thinking instructors
Events

  • 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...

Group photo at the inauguration of the Improbable chair

Article

When Art meets Entrepreneurship

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.

Display :
13052 publications

Paper presented in a Conference

2007

COUTURIER, J., D. SOLA, C. HALLIBURTON

Local economic characteristics and international entry strategies: an actionable framework

in Proceedings of EURAM Annual Conference, 2007, Paris, France

Journal Article

2007

DAMBRIN, C., K. D. VALCK

Look who's talking! Technology-Supported Impression Formation in Virtual Communities

ADVANCES IN CONSUMER RESEARCH, 2007, vol. Vol. 34, Issue 1, pp. pp. 450-451 2 p.

Conference Proceedings

2007

COLLA, E., R. PANDRAUD

L’influence de la loi Dutreil sur la politique de prix des distributeurs et ses conséquences 

in 12° Journées de Recherche en Marketing de Bourgogne, Université de Dijon, 2007, Dijon, France

Journal Article

2007

CISI, M.

Management systems and accountability in ethical-oriented entities.

ECONOMIA AZIENDALE 2000 WEB, 2007

Paper presented in a Conference

2007

CHANGEUR, S., C. FONS

Managerial identification of competitors: Representations, criteria and differences among managers

in Proceedings of the 36th European Marketing Academy (EMAC) Conference, 2007, Reykjavik

Chapter

2007

BOTTURI, L., C. SUCCI, L. CANTONI, A. INVERSIONI

Managing e-Learning Quality

in Advanced Principles of Effective eLearning., BUZZETTO-MORE N. (ed.), Informing Science Press, pp. pp. 161-183 23 p., 2007

Journal Article

2007

MIEMCZYK, J., A. GRAVES

Managing end-of-life vehicle networks: a longitudinal case of the UK

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, 2007, vol. 7/4, pp. 356-370

Paper presented in a Conference

2007

FESTING, M., B. MÜLLER

Managing expatriate psychological contracts for global career development - theoretical framework and empirical evidence

in Proceedings of the Workshop on Advances in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management Research and Corporate Social Responsibility, University of Toulouse 1, IAE - LIRHE & GRACCO CNRS, 2007, Toulouse, France

Chapter

2007

ZARLOWSKI, P.

Marketing corporate social responsability in a national context

in Managing corporate social responsibility in action : talking, doing and measuring., DEN HOND F., DE BAKER F., NEERGAARD P. (eds), Ashgate, pp. pp. 167-186 20 p., 2007

Debate; Point of view; Editorial,…

2007

STAWICKI, E.

Marketing de soi : 9 conseils pour être plus visible en entreprise ?

2007, L'ETUDIANT