Thierry Vandenbussche

Managing Director @ Privacy Salon / Managing Director @ CPDP (Computers, Privacy and Data Protection Conference) / Managing Director @ Privacytopia | Leading Privacy, Data Protection & AI Initiatives

Antwerp, Flemish Region, Belgium

About

🎭🧠 With over 20 years of experience at the intersection of art, culture, and societal change, I currently serve as Director of Privacy Salon, a non-profit organisation dedicated to exploring the impact of technology on society through both academic and cultural lenses. Privacy Salon is the legal entity behind two internationally recognised initiatives: - CPDP (Computers, Privacy and Data Protection) – the leading annual conference in Brussels on privacy and data protection, bringing together legal experts, policy makers, technologists, activists and academics from across the globe. - Privacytopia – a cultural platform that explores what it means to live in a datafied society through art exhibitions, an Artist-in-Residency programme, screenings, the Data Art Guide, and the CPDP Culture Club. 👥 As Director, I am responsible not only for curatorial vision, but also for the strategic, financial, and organisational leadership of the NGO. This includes: - Overseeing complex international events and cultural programmes - Managing a diverse team and network of collaborators - Fundraising and financial planning - Sustaining and growing long-term partnerships across academia, civil society, government, and the cultural sector Leading a non-profit in this fast-changing and politically charged environment requires adaptability, careful stewardship, and a strong commitment to collaboration. It is both a significant responsibility and a deeply meaningful role. At its core, our work builds a unique space where people from vastly different disciplines and perspectives can come together — to think, question, and create — fostering a more nuanced understanding of how technology is reshaping our lives. We believe that by bridging professional and public audiences, we can contribute to a society where digital evolution is both embraced and critically examined. 🎨 My earlier work includes founding and curating at Courtisane Festival, and over two decades of developing exhibitions, screenings and cultural programmes. Please see ‘Accomplishments’ for a full project history. Let’s connect if you're working at the crossroads of technology, culture, and society — or curious about how these worlds meet.

Experience

  • Managing Director at Computers, Privacy and Data Protection
    Aug 2019 - Present · 7 yrs

  • Art & Events Director at Privacy Salon
    Sep 2019 - Present · 6 yrs 11 mos

    Privacy Salon is an organization at the intersection of Contemporary Art and Academic Research. www.privacysalon.org - www.cpdpconferences.org - www.privacytopia.org Privacy Salon aims at sensibilising and critically informing the broader public, policy makers and industry in Belgium, Europe and beyond about privacy, data protection and other social and ethical issues that are raised with the introduction of new technologies in society. In addition, it wants to contribute to policy, policy-making and evaluation of privacy and data protection policy by ways of consultancy for policy makers, industry and research institutions, but also to scientific and policy-oriented research on privacy, data protection and social-ethical consequences of new technologies. Finally, it works towards creating a platform. Privacy Salon co-organises the annual Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) conference, as well as numerous public side events focusing on legal and societal issues posed by current and future technologies, including an annual art exhibition.

  • Manager at stilll office
    Oct 2013 - Sep 2019 · 6 yrs

    stilll office is an art advise bureau working on an international level with highly trained (young) artists, institutions and collections. We focus on lens related art and new photography. stilll office is nomadic. www.stilll.be

  • Art Curator at observatorium.be
    Sep 2017 - Aug 2018 · 1 yr

    club conscious a group show with Andy Wauman, Sarah&Charles, James Tailor, Guillaume Bijl, Bojan Fajfric, Tinka Pittoors, Patrick Carpentier, Wolfgang Tillmans, Joachim Coucke, DD Trans, David Blandy, Eric Croes, John Bock, Karin Hanssen, Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen, René Wirths, Ulrich Lamsfuss. One might read this exhibition as a celebration of the centenary birthday of the naïve/childish gaze in contemporary art. A fictional statement, of course, since it isn't possible to pinpoint a certain day or year for its birth. Art had always been an archaic issue, generally looked at from a grown-ups point of view. Through Dada, Cobra and even Pop Art a childish view started to dominate and even club culture influenced art and vice versa.

  • Art Advisor at Galleria Marie-Laure Fleisch
    Apr 2017 - May 2018 · 1 yr 2 mos