Alysse Stepanian and Philip Mantione have been collaborating on videos, installations, multimedia performances and music for several years. “Don’t be afraid, be ready” is an installation they created during their three-month residency at Imagine Gallery in Beijing. City Weekend magazine named this exhibition as number one of the top five art exhibits in Beijing (June 20, 2006). L.P. Streitfeld, art critic and writer for the New York Times and The Advocate & Greenwich Times, has described Utility of Obsession: All Things Orange, as “...a wry and profound commentary on the conflicted state of America's emotions.“ In October of 2006, the couple started a 6-month residency at Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin, during which time they created the installation titled Glitter, glamour and glory: Hunde Verboten.

“BOX 1035 emerged from the gradual melding of our ideas as individual artists. In combining the perspectives of the visual arts and music we have created work that is multisensorial and multilayered with social, political, philosophical and psychological references. In November of 2005 we embarked on a series of temporary situations, living a nomadic lifestyle for the sake of experience. BOX 1035 is a name derived from our New York Post Office box, a reference to our only remaining physical/geographical idea of permanence and a symbol of transience, during the two years that we completed residencies in Barcelona, Beijing and Berlin."

INSTALLATIONS

2007
• “Gliiter, glamour and glory: HUNDE VERBOTEN" Werkschau Internationales Kunsthaus Tacheles

2006
• “...until you slip”; installation with water sculpture, sound, video; Islip Art Museum; Site Specifics '06; curated by Karen Shaw; East Islip, New York
• “Don’t be afraid, be ready”; installation with water sculptures, sound and video; Imagine Gallery; Beijing, China

2005
• Utility of Obsession: All Things Orange; outdoor installation with kinetic sculptures, video and sound; Branchville Gallery; Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA

2004
• Drainage; a multimedia installation with gravity-driven mechanics, sound, kinetic sculptures, paintings, video; Collaborative Concepts; Beacon, New York

2001
• video truck: travel videos in a pickup truck; One Night Stand: curated by Tamara Fites and Michael Lewis Miller; The Farmer’s Daughter Motel; Los Angeles, California
• video car: The Parking Lot Art Happening; travel videos in a rental car, Los Angeles, California

1999
• auditionherefreebeer: site-specific installation and performance with audience participation in Cremolata Flotage organized by Sue Spaid; aboard the Andrew J. Barberi Staten Island Ferry; New York City

1998
• Fierce; video, slides, music installation at Yerevan Biennial Exhibition of Avant Garde Art; The Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art; catalog, illus.; Yerevan, Armenia

1996
• The Hatchery; a multimedia installation, studio at Factory Place; Los Angeles, California

PERFORMANCES / MULTIMEDIA EVENTS

1999
• Ten or So: collaboration with Doug Geers and Steve Cohn: computer music, video projection, and live shakuhachi; Columbia University; New York City
• OnetoMANYthree festival by MANY; Dixon Place, NY
City:
- scourge.org: a collaborative performance with Sue Spaid
- snippet: multimedia performance with Larry Weeks

1998
• TwoMANYtwo festival by MANY; DCTV, New York City:
- Steps: video with music by Mantione for alto sax and tape
- Fierce: video, slides, music by Mantione
• 50/50: slides, music; non sequitur festival, Composers Collaborative; Here; New York City
• OneMANY festival by MANY; Greenwich House, Hayden Auditorium, New York City:
- Out of Line: multi-media performance with video, live and recorded music
- Music for Typist: computer-interactive music with projection, set design

1997
• Destroying the Hatchery: happening at Factory Place studio; Los Angeles, California

FESTIVALS/ SCREENINGS

2004
• DIGIT; video screening; Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Tusten Theatre; New York

2003
• Rencontres internationales Paris/Berlin 2003 - www.art-action.org: Buffalo video; cinéma l'Arlequin in Paris and Podewil in Berlin
• Divine Women Divine Work; video screening; The Painted Bride Art Center; Philadelphia

2001
• SEAMUS 2001 National Conference; video screening; LSU; Baton Rouge, Louisianna, USA

2000
• VOID; video screening; New York City
• Leeds International Film Festival; video screening; West Yorkshire; UK
• Mississippi State University; video screening; The Bettersworth Auditorium , USA
• Fig Gallery; video screening; Bergamot Station, Los Angeles, California
• Shy Anne Sound and Video Festival; video screening; Tacoma, Washington, USA
• Most Significant Bytes 2000 screening; University of Akron & Mount Union College; also internet Concert Gallery for 12 months; Akron, Ohio, USA
• Jan Baum Gallery; Used and Amused; video on monitor Los Angeles, California

1999
• Sonic Circuits Circus International Festival of Electronic Music and Art; The Field screening; Landmark Center; St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
• Great Atrophy; video on monitor; HAY-ART Cultural Center, Yerevan, Armenia
• Art In General; Video and Film Marathon; New York City

1998
• TwoMANYtwo; 72 Hours: Acrobat’s Little Leap screening; MANY; DCTV; New York City

WEB/RADIO/TELEVISION BROADCASTS

2006
• interview with Ren Hongjuan regarding “Don’t be afraid, be ready” installation at Imagine Gallery in Beijing; ARD German Radio Beijing Bureau; Deutsche Welle Chinese program, Bonn, Germany) www.dw_world.de

2002
• art@radio web broadcast; music collaboration; on the River Hull, UK

2001
• liveReal: a multimedia performance for live TV broadcast on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), and the web at dctvny.org; DCTV; New York City

2000
• wigged.net; web video broadcast in Oct/Nov

SELECTED ARTICLES / INTERVIEWS

2006
• City Weekend; Editorial Team; “top 5: Check out City Weekend’s Top 5 Art Exhibits” (“Don’t be afraid, be ready” listed as the #1 exhibit); Vol 6, Issue 17, No. 12; June 22 - July 5, 2006, Pg. E5

• Beijing This Month; Charles J. Dukes; “Shadow Series No.1”; Issue 151; June 2006, Pg. 48

2005
• The Advocate & Greenwich Time; L.P. Streitfeld; “Americans and security: Wanting our cake and eating it”; Sunday, Sept. 18, 2005, Pg. D3, Art Section; color illus.

2004
• Chronogram; Jennifer Wai-Lan Huang; “Drained by Desire”; August 4, 2004, Pg 107, illus.

• New York Times (Westchester Edition); Benjamin Genocchio; “A Backup Plan With Fine Results”; May 30, 2004, Pg. 8, Arts & Entertainment, illus.

• Poughkeepsie Journal; Nicole Edwards; “Interact with Imaginative Exhibits at Beacon Gallery”; May 7, 2004; Pg. 17 (Enjoy: Entertainment Guide)

2000
• www.wigged.net “The Field”; interview article by Seth Thompson; Oct/Nov 2000

1999
• FYI (NYFA - New York Foundation for the Arts Quarterly); William R. Kaizen: “Multimedia’s Changing Spaces - Remediation”; Fall 1999, Volume 15, No. 3, Pg. 7

1998
• The Armenian Reporter International; “TwoMANYtwo” Multi-media Event...”; October 31, 1998, Pg. 9