Since 2020, Melanie Deboutte (1988) is Director and Curator at Roger Raveel Museum in Machelen-aan-de-Leie, close to Ghent, a monographic museum dedicated to one of Belgium’s most significant post-war painters. Between 2011 and 2019 she explored the art world by joining curatorial, communication and productional teams in several museums in Belgium, from S.M.A.K., Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens and the Herbert Foundation to Mu.ZEE, M Leuven, Z33 and M HKA. Next to coordinating exhibitions, such as the solo presentation of Dirk Braeckman at the Belgian Pavilion with curator Eva Wittocx during the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017, she (co-)curated several solo and group exhibitions with works by artists such as Narcisse Tordoir Nel Aerts, Rein Dufait, Jan Vercruysse, John Murphy, Raphael Buedts, Dan Van Severen, Sine Van Menxel and Kasper Andreasen. She frequently writes reviews, interviews and essays for art magazines, collection and exhibition catalogues and artists’ publications. In 2019, she contributed to the start-up of the Art Archives Center Flanders (CKV) at M HKA as a consultant for artists’ estates. Next to her current position at the Raveel Museum, she conducts continuous research on Belgian and international development in contemporary art and exhibition-making in the 1980s and 1990s.