Cristina Lucas was born in Jaén, 1973. She studied at Complutense University of Madrid and the University of California Irvine, then was a resident at Rijksakademie and at ISCP, New York. She currently resides in Madrid. Using multimedia such as photography, video, installation, drawing, and performance, her work explores the possibility for different readings of history and offers better explanations of the present.
One piece focuses on the relationship between religion and art, with her as the artist speaking to three ministers, with light social satire interwoven into video showing how, even though the preachers are ignored by passers-by during Times Square rush hour, they continue to talk about the power and importance of art. With performances of her smashing a replica of Michelangelo’s Moses statue with a hammer, urging viewers to uncover the secret to their own creation, and video of the goddess in Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People” played by a half-naked young woman that ends tragically with her being beaten by the men, she raises the issue of gender discrimination in history and art history. "You Can Walk, Too” (2006), shown at the “Astonishing Reality” exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo in 2014, is a comical video of a village dog walking around town on its hind legs, which incorporates irony of women who force themselves to behave like men and toward men themselves. Lucas’s thrilling and critical works have received wide acclaim and are featured at exhibits worldwide.
Lucas received international acclaim for "Pantone-500 + 2007”, a two-dimensional world map tracing changes from the 5th century BC to the present, on collection at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Her exhibit at Ueno Cultural Park Hakubutsukan-Dōbutsuen Station is also based on a map, showing the grand history of the human race that encompasses politics, social structure, and state power.