Dercon began his career as a teaching assistant at
Rijksuniversiteit Leiden in the Department of Theatre Research where he initiated the Theatre Tape Festival. In 1980 he worked as an assistant curator at the
Gemeentemuseum The Hague on a project about the history of world exhibitions and textiles. Starting in 1981 till 1983 he was a collaborator at the
Galerie Baronian-Lambert in Ghent. As of 1982, he worked as a free-lance art critic for the
De Standaard newspaper as well as contributing to
Belgian Radio and Television (RTBF) in Brussels. From 1983 onwards, he also began teaching video and cinema at the
KU Leuven, and at the
Hoger Instituut voor Beeldende Kunsten, St Lukas,
Brussels. In 1988 he was appointed program director at
PS1 in New York where he worked until 1990. Dercon was then appointed to his first directorship at
Witte de With in Rotterdam, where he worked until 1995. In his first year, he notably invited
Ydessa Hendeles to guest-curate
Partners, combining work by
Diane Arbus,
Maurizio Cattelan,
James Coleman,
Hanne Darboven,
Walker Evans,
Luciano Fabro,
On Kawara,
Paul McCarthy,
Bruce Nauman,
Giulio Paolini,
Jeff Wall and
Lawrence Weiner with Hendeles's own artwork
Partners (The Teddy Bear Project) (2002), a large-scale installation built around an archive of family-album photographs, each including the image of a teddy bear.
Tate Modern, 2011–2016 Dercon was appointed director of the
Tate Modern in London in 2011 where he stayed until 2016. In his position as Tate Modern director, he succeeded
Vicente Todolí During his tenure, he oversaw the opening of the museum's first dedicated space to live art and installations as part of plans to explore new areas of visual culture like video, photography and performance art. Whilst at Tate Modern, Dercon sat on the committee which chose
Ferran Barenblit to be the new
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) in 2015.
Volksbühne, 2017–2018 Nominated by Berlin's State Secretary for Cultural Affairs
Tim Renner in 2015, Dercon was appointed general director of the
Volksbühne Berlin from 2017 until 2018, succeeding
Frank Castorf. His first season began with a wide variety of productions including a 10-hour dance event in which the audience were asked to join in, and an installation by filmmaker
Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Grand Palais, 2019–2022 From 2019 Dercon was the President of the Association of
French National Museums-
Grand Palais for an initial five-year term, where he oversaw the renovation of the
Grand Palais, working with
François Chatillon. Dercon served on the jury which selected
Kapwani Kiwanga as winner of the
Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2020. In 2021, he was a member of the search committee that recommended
Elvira Dyangani Ose to be the next director of MACBA.
Fondation Cartier, 2022–present In 2022, Dercon was appointed director of the
Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain. ==Other activities==