Creative Bibliography

Tatyana Apraksina

Tatyana Apraksina is known as an artist and writer informed by the world of music, as well as for producing the cultural magazine Apraksin Blues. For her, traces of music and musical states of being become emblems of the work of spirit. A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, she has focused on the theme of classical music performance, working with soloists and ensembles including the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Borodin Quartet and the Moscow Virtuosi. She has exhibited at venues for music and art in Europe and North America. In the United States, her work has been shown under the auspices of the Soros Foundation. She has created extensive bodies of art and writing while based in Russia and California. She has served as editor-in-chief of Apraksin Blues since its founding in 1995.

SOLO EXHIBITS – GROUP EXHIBITS – PUBLICATIONS, LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITS

In Russia

St. Petersburg
  • “Sonnets” Café (1976)
  • “Okhta” Theater, jointly with Andrei “Willie” Usov (1979)
  • Library of the Academy of Sciences, House of Architects, Great Hall of the Philharmonic (1984)
  • House of Scholars (1990 – VIDEO)
  • House of Composers (1991 – VIDEO; 1994)
  • Great Hall of the Philharmonic, Institute for the Continuing Education of Teachers (1996)
  • Center for Contemporary Art, Department of Philosophy, St. Petersburg State University (1998)
Moscow
  • Kurchatov Institute, Glinka State Museum of Musical Culture (1987)
Vitebsk, Belarus
  • Chagall Museum (1994, 1995)

Abroad

  • New York, NY, USA: 1990
  • Baltimore, MA, USA: 1990
  • Wilmington, DE, USA: 1990 (3)
  • Chicago, IL, USA: 1990 (2)
  • Leipzig, Germany: 1991
  • San Francisco, Fort Bragg, San Diego (2), CA, USA: 1989
  • Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur/Gualala/San Anselmo, CA, USA: 2000, 2001
  • Palo Alto, CA, USA: 2002, 2014
  • Jerusalem, Israel:  2006, 2012
  • San Jose, California:  2008, 2012
  • Northwestern U.S. (various venues): 2012, 2013
  • Santa Clara, CA, USA: 2013
  • Oakland, CA, USA: 2013, 2015

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITS

St. Petersburg, Russia
  • Palace of Youth (1986)
  • (1995)
Moscow, Russia
  • Glinka Museum, exhibit for 90th anniversary of Shostakovich’s birth (1996)
Vienna, Austria
  • (1989)
Vitebsk, Belarus
  • Chagall Museum (1997)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS, LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS

  • Reproductions in Music in the U.S.S.R. (REPRODUCTIONS AND ARTICLE HERE), Soviet Music and Soviet Union, 1980s
  • Consonance. (AVAILABLE HERE). A documentary directed by Aleksei Prazdnikov. Screenplay by Leonid Efimov. Featuring the music of Dmitry Shostakovich, performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic, conducted by Mariss Jansons. Also featuring violinist Mikhail Gantvarg. Lentelefilm, 1989.
    • Also available: Preparing for Consonance. 1989. In preparation for the making of Consonance, a film crew explores Tatyana Apraksina’s studio and documents her conversation with screenwriter Leonid Efimov. 
  • American talks on the philosophy of art, 1989-1990:

– State University of New York (SUNY-Purchase), NY;
– Art Institute of Maryland, Baltimore, MD;
– Maryland High School for the Arts, Baltimore, MD;
– San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

  • Spoken performance, State Academy of Theatrical Art, St. Petersburg, 1990
  • Theses on art, lecture at Scholars’ Union, St. Petersburg, 1991
  • About Tatyana Apraksina. “Fifth Wheel” broadcast (AVAILABLE HERE). Channel Five, St. Petersburg, 1992.
  • St. Petersburg artist Tatyana Apraksina (AVAILABLE HERE). Teddy Video Company, 1993.
  • On music and art, at I.I. Sollertinskiy International Music Festival, Vityebsk, Byelorussia, 1994, 1995, 1997
  • “A Word About Cothurni” (essay). Athenian Class (samizdat), St. Petersburg, 1995
  • Essays, prose work, poetry, interview in Apraksin Blues, St. Petersburg-California, 1995-present
  • Lectures at March Solo festival, St. Petersburg, 1996, 1997, 1998
  • “A Face That Had No Riddles” (ENGLISH TRANSLATION) in About the Composer Aleksandr Lokshin, Moscow State University Press, 1998
  • Lecture at St. Petersburg’s Center For Contemporary Art, 1998
  • Theses on art, lecture at St. Petersburg State University, 1998
  • Lessons For ‘Orly, in Miysl’, St. Petersburg Philosophical Society, 2000
  • “Upon March Solo’s Philosophical Stage,” in Culture, St. Petersburg, 1999
  • “The Praxiteles Syndrome,” philosophy, in Culture, St. Petersburg, 1999
  • Artwork, prose, poems, manuscipt facsimile in Convolvulus, U.S., 1998-2001
  • Poem  sequence California Psalms as spoken-word piece, venues in United States, Russia, Germany, Israel, 1999-present
  • Highlights from California Psalms and other poetry, essay on artist, in caesura, U.S., Winter 2001
  • Highlights from poem sequence …Looking at Fujiyama in Reality and Subject, St. Petersburg, 2001
  • “A Face That Had No Riddles” (ENGLISH TRANSLATION) reprinted with author’s “Portrait of A. L. Lokshin,” MAKS Press, Moscow, 2001
  • Highlights from poem sequence …Looking at Fujiyama in Track of Fata Morgana, St. Petersburg, 2002
  • “Stone in Love With Stone,” “The Turn of the Brush (part one)” in Apraksin Blues #10, 2002 (ENGLISH TRANSLATION)
  • “To the Violinist’s Hand” and other material in Vstrecha, Palo Alto, 2002
  • Beyond the Requiem (extracts in Russian), Lokshin foundation, 2003
  • “The Phenomenon of T. Apraksina,” St. Petersburg State University Dept. of Philosophy event, 2003
  • “Alek Rapoport: Non-conformism Endures,” Terra Nova, San Jose, 2004
  • “If a Stone Were an Artist,” News of the North and Galilee, Israel, 2004
  • “Big Sur Triptych with Kerouac” in Apraksin Blues #12, 2004
  • Lokshin, A.A. Genius of Evil / Apraksina, T.I. A Face That Had No Riddles (second edition, expanded) (ENGLISH TRANSLATION). Moscow: MAKS-Press, 2005
  • California Psalms 6, 17; “Petersburg Walls,” “Goodbye, Seaside,” St. Petersburg: Neva 9, 2005
  • California Psalms 1-5, 7-16, 18. St. Peterburg: Neva 12, 2007
  • “Alek Rapoport,” pieces in Harlequin, Terra Nova, San Francisco, San Jose, 2007
  • Highlights from California Psalms in I dream in Russian (Russian Foreign Ministry and Literary Gazette prizewinners). Literary Gazette Publishing House, Moscow, 2007
  • Poems and artwork in Terra Nova magazine no. 32, Palo Alto, 2008
  • “Measure of Love and Silence,” cantata libretto for Richard Cameron-Wolfe. Premieres: Russia, St. Petersburg Composer’s Union Musical Spring festival; U.S., American Composers’ Association Festival, New York, 2008 (ENGLISH LIBRETTO; PERFORMANCE EXCERPT)
  • “The Turn of the Brush (part two)” in Apraksin Blues #16, 2009 (ENGLISH TRANSLATION)
  • “Time as a Perceptual Category,” lecture at the 3rd Russian Congress for Cultural Research, St. Petersburg, 2010. (English translation of theses HERE.)
  • Poetry and “Between Science’s Time and Art’s Eternity” in Image and Concept in Cultural Research and Scholarly Ontology: collective monograph. St. Petersburg: Eidos Publishing, 2011. P. 8-23.
  • “Psalm 1: Sonnet 9” from California Psalms (in Russian and English, with translator’s commentary) in Image and Concept in Cultural Research and Scholarly Ontology: collective monograph. St. Petersburg: Eidos Publishing, 2011. P. 71-87.
  • Selected Apraksin Blues outreach presentations, St. Petersburg: Mayakovsky Library, 2009; St. Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, 2010;
  • “The Sound of Freedom,” Poems and artwork in Life Imagery, Palo Alto, 2011
  • Highlights and illustrations from poem sequence …Looking at Fujiyama in Life Imagery, Palo Alto, 2012
  • California Psalms, bilingual edition. Astoria, Oregon: Radiolarian Press, 2013
  • From California Psalms: Psalms 2 and 17. St. Petersburg Review, 2013
  • “Five Poems,” International Poetry Review, U.S., Spring 2014, Vol. 40 Issue 1. P. 28.
  • Autobiography, poetry, manuscript pages, archival photos, reading, in On the History of Unofficial Culture and the Contemporary Russian Diaspora: 1950s-1990s. Autobiographies. Authors’ readings. / [Compiled, edited, annotated by Y. M. Valieva]. St. Petersburg State University, 2015. P. 193-213.
  • “Lesson”/”Урок” (bilingual, with translation and song setting by James Manteith). (HERE.) Clade Song. Sacramento, Calif., 2015
  • Poetry in The Time Joint (Svyaz Vremyon). (Russian HERE.) San Jose, Calif., 2015
  • “A Face That Held No Riddles.” works & conversations, Berkeley, Calif., 2016.  (in ENGLISH TRANSLATION, HERE)
  • “Blocking Sound with Sound.” Essay for the XL Scholarly Conference of the International Association of Historical Psychology, December 19, 2016, St. Petersburg, Russia. Published in Sounds and Smells as an Element of Everyday Life. SPb: Poltorak, 2016.  P. 3-8.
  • Poetry in The Time Joint (Svyaz Vremyon). (Russian HERE.) San Jose, Calif., 2016
  • “A Rift Called Nietzsche. A Free View of Nietzsche and His Era.” Essay in Literary and Philosophical Journal “Topos,” April 11-12, 2017. (In Russian HERE, in two installments; partial text.)
  • “Where There is No There.” Essay for the XLI Scholarly Conference of the International Association of Historical Psychology, May 18, 2017, St. Petersburg, Russia. Published in Historical Psychology and Geopolitics.  SPb: Poltorak, 2017. P. 73-78.
  • “Between Being and Having.” Essay for the XLII Scholarly Conference of the International Association of Historical Psychology, December 4, 2016, St. Petersburg, Russia. Published in Historical and Psychological Aspects of 1917.  SPb: Poltorak, 2017. P. 9-12.
  • “Mike, Bob, Sweet N and Others” or “The Leningrad Underground” (Unpublished Gift). Terra Nova magazine interview, presented to the feature AB Everywhere. 2017. (Russian)
    Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3 — Conclusion
  • Poetry in The Time Joint (Svyaz Vremyon). (Russian HERE.) San Jose, Calif., 2017
  • “Form and Function.” Essay for the XLIII Scholarly Conference of the International Association of Historical Psychology, May 14, 2018, St. Petersburg, Russia. Published in Historical and Psychological Aspects of Military Service. SPb: Poltorak, 2018. P. 11-14.
  • “The Dominant of Myth.” Essay for the XLIV Scholarly Conference of the International Association of Historical Psychology, December 17, 2018, St. Petersburg, Russia. Published in Historical and Psychological Aspects of the Mutual Perception of Russia and the West. SPb: Poltorak, 2018. P. 8-12.
  • “California as Myth.” Essay for the XLV Scholarly Conference of the International Association of Historical Psychology, May 13, 2019. Anecdote and Other Folklore Genres as a Source of Historical Psychology. SPb, 2019.
  • Portfolio in Art and Beyond magazine. “Homage to the Russian Avant-Garde” issue, May 2019.
  • “If I were known as a violin bow” (libretto). Composition for soprano, violin and cello, by Gregory Korchmar (2013). Premiere: “Petersburg Musical Spring” 55th International Festival, St. Petersburg, May 20, 2019.
  • English translation of “The Praxiteles Syndrome” and Three Poems (“Walls of Petersburg,” “To the Island of the Santa Lucias,” “The Scale of Stones”) in Cardinal Points Literary Journal, Volume 9. New York, 2019.
  • Conversations with Through Music’s Mirror (Muzykalnoye zazerkalye). 2020. (Russian Part 1. Part 2.)
  • “The Wall (When the Wall is Built…).” conversations.org. Berkeley, Calif., 2020. (in ENGLISH TRANSLATION, HERE)
  • “Choosing the Angles of History” (article). Published in XLVII Scholarly Conference of the International Association of Historical Psychology, May 2020. The Great Patriotic War, the Wars of Russia and Problems of Historical Memory. SPb, 2020.
  • “The Cult of Symbols and Attributes of Death in Contemporary Western Culture” (article). Published in XLVIII Scholarly Conference of the International Association of Historical Psychology, December 2020. Historical, Psychological and Social Aspects of Epidemics’ Influence on Humans and Society. SPb, 2020.
  • Poetry in The Time Joint (Svyaz Vremyon). (Russian HERE.) San Jose, Calif., 2020.
  • “Culture as a Model and Vector of Evolution” (lecture). V Russian Cultural Congress with International participation. “Cultural Heritage — From Past to Future.” St. Petersburg, 2021.
  • “The Poet in Prison. On the Benefits of Isolation” (article). Published in L International Scholarly Conference on Historical Psychology. Historical and Psychological Aspects of the Collapse of the Soviet Union: Historical Parallels and an Attempt at Comprehension. St. Petersburg, 2021.
  • Poetry in The Time Joint (Svyaz Vremyon). (Russian HERE.) San Jose, Calif., 2021.
  • “Preserving Peter’s Spirit in Small Ways as Well” (article). Published in LI International Scientific Conference on Historical Psychology. Russia and “Anti-Russia”: The Historical and Psychological Aspect. St. Petersburg, 2022.
  • Poetry in The Time Joint (Svyaz Vremyon). (Russian HERE.) San Jose, Calif., 2022-2023.
  • “The House of Inspiration. Musicians in Leningrad in the 80s” (lecture). International conference “The Metaphysics of Art: Music in the City — The City in Music.” Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, December 7, 2023.