Chris Burden was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1946. Soon thereafter, his family moved to California. He obtained a B.F.A at Pomona College, Claremont, California and later a M.F.A at the University of California in 1971. The early seventies, the period when Chris Burden produced his first mature works, was characterized by the idea that the truly important, viable art of the future would not be with objects, things that you could simply sell and hang on your wall. Art, instead, would address political, social, environmental and technological change. Earth, performance, body, video, computer, narrative and conceptual art became the new mediums. Burden, with his shockingly simple, unforgettable, "here and now" performances shook the conventional art world and took this new art form to its extreme.

Chris Burden works and lives in California. He has had major retrospectives at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California (1988) and MAK-Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna (1996). In 1999 Burden exhibited at the 48th Venice Biennale and the Tate Gallery in London. And for the summer of 2008 a 65 foot tall skyscraper made of Erecter set parts, titled What My Dad Gave Me, stood in front of Rockefeller Center, New York City.