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
2012
Improving Carbon Efficiency: is Economic Growth so Favourable?
in Proceedings of the 12th IAEE European Energy Conference, 2012, Venice, United Kingdom
Paper presented in a Conference
2012
In Search of Exclusivity
in Proceedings of the Global Marketing Conference, 2012, Seoul
Journal Article
2012
In the Mood to Buy?
MARKETING LETTERS, 2012, vol. 23/4, pp. 1005-1018
Paper presented in a Conference
2012
In the Mood to Buy? Understanding the Interplay of Mood Regulation and Congruence
in Proceedings of the INFORMS Marketing Science, 2012, Boston, United States
Journal Article
2012
Inclusive Networks for Building BOP Markets
BUSINESS & SOCIETY, 2012, vol. Vol 51, Issue 3, pp. 512-556
Paper presented in a Conference
2012
Individual and contextual influences on the transfer of diversity training
in 27th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), 2012, San Diego, United States
Research Monograph (Working papers)
2012
Industrial Competition as a Limit to Banking Market Power
University of Pennsylvania, Mimeo., 2012
Journal Article
2012
Information financière des banques
DO COMPTABLE JURISCLASSEUR, November 2012, vol. C-70-200, pp. 1-16
Journal Article
2012
Information sectorielle
DO COMPTABLE JURISCLASSEUR, November 2012, vol. C-16-400, pp. 1-17
Journal Article
2012
Information sectorielle: la transition d'IAS 14 à IFRS 8 en France et en Allemagne
REVUE FRANCAISE DE COMPTABILITE, 2012, vol. n° 460, pp. pp. 38-43 5 p.