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.
Paper presented in a Conference
2007
The strategic role of HR. A model for assessing the influence of HR competencies
in Proceedings of the Doctoral seminar Bern/Linz, 2007, Bern, Switzerland
Journal Article
2007
The use of economic tools to develop a consensus on alcohol policies within and between jurisdictions
CONTEMPORARY DRUG PROBLEMS, 2007, vol. 34 (4), pp. 729-751
Paper presented in a Conference
2007
The Use of English in Management Education
in Electronic Journal of Radical Organization Theory, Proceedings of the 5th International Critical Management Studies Conference, Reconnecting Critical Management, Stream Management and Philology: Perspectives on Languages in International Contexts, Manchester Business School, 2007, Manchester, United Kingdom
Chapter
2007
The use, overuse, and misuse of affect, mood, and emotion in organizational research
in Research on Emotion in Organizations, Functionality, Intentionality and Morality - vol. 3., ASHKANASY N., HÄRTEL C. E. J., ZERBE W. J. (eds), Elsevier / JAI Press, pp. pp 31-53 23 p, 2007
Research Monograph (Working papers)
2007
The Value adding web
ESCP-EAP Working Paper, no. September, n°27, 2007
Journal Article
2007
Theoretical Formula for Quick Selection of the Number of Blades in Designing Axial-Flow Compressors
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TURBO AND JET ENGINES, 2007, pp. 63-73
Paper presented in a Conference
2007
Theoretical perspectives on expatriate compensation: research and practice implications in a complex and changing environment
in Proceedings of the 9th International Human Resource Management Conference (IHRM), 2007, Tallinn
Book
2007
Théories des organisations
Repères, Paris, France, 2007
Journal Article
2007
Thermoacoustic Nanotechnology: Derivation of a lower limit to the minimum reachablbe size
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 2007, pp. 1-10
Chapter
2007
Transformations de la fonction RH
in Connaissance et management : ouvrage dédié à Robert Reix, professeur - pionnier des Sciences de Gestion., DUBOIS P.L., DUPUY Y. (eds), ECONOMICA, pp. pp. 185-192 8 p., 2007