[6][7][8][9] In 1995, Vanderlinden founded Roomade, a Brussels-based organization that collaborated with artists, philosophers, and intellectuals to develop projects "embedded in specific social situations" and aimed at "new audiences."

Emerging in response to Brussels’ lack of experimental spaces for contemporary art in the mid-1990s, Roomade sought to occupy this terrain vague with non-commercial, socially engaged interventions.

Notable commissions included Matt Mullican Under Hypnosis (1996), Boris Groys: The Art of Judgement Show (2000–2002), and Carsten Höller: The Boudewijn Experiment (2000–2001).

Collaborators spanned Belgian and international figures such as Jan Fabre, Ilya Kabakov, Raqs Media Collective, Tobias Rehberger, Ana Torfs, and Kobe Matthys.

[13][14][15] From 1998 to 2004, Barbara Vanderlinden served as Vice President of the Contemporary Art Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Culture of the Flemish Community, becoming the youngest person and the first woman ever appointed to the role.

In 1997, Vanderlinden served a member of the Konklave (Conclave), a curatorial initiative organized by the Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur (Foundation for Art and Culture) in Bonn, Germany.

[18][19] In 2000, she curated an interdisciplinary exhibition and performance program for the Brussels 2000, European Capital of Culture, titled Indiscipline, including the projects Boris Groys: The Art Judgement Show[20] and Carsten Höller: The Boudewijn Experiment (2000–2001).

In 2001, Vanderlinden was appointed co-curator of the 24th Bienal de Sao Pauloalongside Ivo Mesquita, Adriano Pedrosa, Cuauhtémoc Medina, Louise Neri, and Lilian Tone.

The edition, titled Núcleo histórico: representações utópicas (Historical Nucleus: Utopian Representations), aimed to critically reassess 20th-century avant-garde movements.