Jan Debbaut (Temse, 1949) studied art history and archaeology at Ghent University. He started his career in 1974 as a curator at the ICC – now the MuHKA – in Antwerp. He later became director of exhibitions at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels. From 1988 to 2003 he was director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, where he was responsible for the realization of the new building. He subsequently went on to become director of collections of the Tate museums in London.

Throughout these years, Debbaut organized a great many exhibitions in and for museums abroad (including various entries for the Belgian and Dutch pavilions at the Venice Biennale) and he was a member of numerous advisory and purchasing committees, boards of various art institutions at home and abroad (he was, for example, general secretary of CIMAM – Conseil Internationale des Musées d’Art Contemporain) and juries (such as for the Turner Prize).