In 2009 Thomas Bellinck (°Recklinghausen, 1983) graduates as a theatre director from the RITS, the Brussels school for audio-visual and dramatic arts. Before training as a theatre director Thomas studies Germanic Philology at the University of Leuven. During his education at the Rits he performs in several productions at Nieuwpoorttheater, Theater Antigone, and 't Arsenaal. Having been selected for Het Theaterfestival 2009 for a political action with illegalised co-citizens on a hunger strike, he opens the festival with a speech entitled 'We were dying and then we got a prize.' The same year, together with Ewout D'Hoore, he creates a play together with inmates at the Leuven Auxiliary Prison, the rehearsal process of which is captured in the documentary TV series Leuven Hulp.
In 2010, together with actor and former fellow student Jeroen Van der Ven, Thomas establishes the theatre company Steigeisen. Under the flag of Steigeisen and often in collaboration with the Royal Flemish Theatre, Thomas and Jeroen create the performances 'Fobbit'; 'Billy, Sally, Jerry and the .38 Gun'; 'Lethal Inc.'; 'De Onkreukelbare' and 'Memento Park'. In 2011, 'Lethal Inc.', a PowerPoint performance about the quest for humane execution methods, is selected for Het Theaterfestival 2011.
In addition to his work with Steigeisen, Thomas also performs in the Frank Nuyts opera 'Middle East' (Muziektheater LOD) and, together with patients at the Sint Jan de Deo psychiatric hospital, works on 'Berg', a cinematic account of an invisible play.
In 2013 Thomas builds the first version of 'Domo de Eŭropa Historio en Ekzilo' (KVS), a futuristic historical museum about life in the former European Union. After an initial run in Brussels, the museum travels to other European cities, such as Rotterdam, Vienna, Athens, Wiesbaden and Marseille.
In 2015, together with writer and theatre maker Pieter De Buysser, Thomas establishes the Brussels-based, artist-run production society ROBIN. As of 2022, the collective and autonomous association for made-to-measure artistic work will consist of artists-researchers Thomas Bellinck, Saddie Choua, Sandra Raes Oklobdzija and Ahilan Ratnamohan.
Since 2016, Thomas has been working as a doctoral researcher in the arts at KASK/School of Arts (HoGent), where he is one of the founding members of The School of Speculative Documentary. Among other things, for the past few years, Thomas has been developing 'Simple as ABC', a series of interview-based works scrutinising the apparatus of EU ‘mobility management'.