Jan Debbaut (born 1949 in Temse, Belgium) is an art historian by training. Currently he works as a professor in curatorial studies at the Art History department at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and chair of CCS Ghent (the Center for Curatorial Studies at KASK in Gent). He also works as an independent curator. Over the last 25 years he has been directing several museums and art institutions (a.o. BOZAR in Brussels, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and Tate Collections in London). All these years he has been curating more than 100 exhibitions (including the Dutch and Belgian pavillion at the Venice Biënnial) and building collections (a.o Generali in Vienna and La Caixa in Barcelona). He sat on many juries (a.o. the Turner Prize) and boards and advisory committees of many international institutions (including a.o. De Appel, Amsterdam / Whitechapel Gallery, London /Palais de Tokyo, Paris /The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). He recently oversaw the creation of UCCA in Beijing and the Herbert Foundation in Gent.