Cristina Vives is a curator, researcher, and art critic. She has been a two-time fellow of the J. Paul Getty Center (Los Angeles) and is the founder of the independent space Estudio Figueroa-Vives in Havana. She has worked extensively with key figures of Cuban and Latin American contemporary art and curated the traveling retrospective exhibition of Belkis Ayón, presented at institutions such as the Fowler Art Museum (UCLA), El Museo del Barrio (New York), the Chicago Cultural Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art Houston, and the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid).

She has lectured at Fundación Mapfre (Barcelona), the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst (Germany), PhotoEspaña (Madrid), and Museo MALBA (Buenos Aires). She is co-author of the book Memoria: Artes Visuales Cubanas del Siglo XX and the author of essays and monographs on artists such as Belkis Ayón, Flavio Garciandía, Alberto Korda, Alejandro Campins, Tania Bruguera, and Alexandre Arrechea, among others.

Her current research and curatorial practice focus on international contemporary art, with particular attention to the Spanish and Latin American art scenes.