Jan Boelen (1967) is a Belgian critic and curator of contemporary art and design exhibitions. He studied product design at the Media & Design Academie (KHLim) in Genk, Belgium. He is the founding director of Z33, House for Contemporary Art in Hasselt, Belgium. He also chairs the Flemish committee for Architecture and Design and is currently curating exhibitions and projects for Manifesta 9 (2012, Limburg). After teaching in the Bachelors Department Man and Well Being, Jan Boelen has been head of the Master Department Social Design at Design Academy Eindhoven (NL) since 2010.