Live Debris is a collaborative project dedicated to the proliferation of reuse art, craft and design. Present in Beirut from March to June, 26-year-old US artist Taylor Stevenson is teaching reuse techniques and curating an exhibit of art and craft made from commonly discarded materials. Through events which are free and opened to everyone, the project highlights programs and individuals who are transforming their communities with the creative use of common trash.

iloubnan.info: How did the “Live Debris” project start?
Taylor Stevenson: One of my hobbies is to make art with reuse material. I’ve been doing this for about five years. In Portland (Oregon), where I come from, I started working with homeless people, teaching them in workshops how to make things with discarded materials, so that they could support themselves. That’s how the project started. Then, working as a Spanish interpreter, I did a lot of traveling to South America, mostly to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, meeting artists there and developing the same idea. Since I have a good friend living in Lebanon, I decided to come here for a month to curate events and do things that would socially benefit the community.

How did the project unfold in Beirut?
It started as a planned exhibition at UMAM Documentation & Research, since my friend works there, the goal of the project being to engage local artists in experimenting with reuse material. Then, recycling being something new here, it attracted people’s interest and evolved as a series of lectures and informal workshops for local artists. Most of them took place at people’s houses, one of them in Souk el-Tayeb (Saïfi) on the 3^rd of May. I also visited classrooms at AUB and in other universities. For now, the exhibition at UMAM (Haret Hreik, 01-55-36-04, www.umam-dr.org) will take place from May 22^nd (opening at 6PM) to June 6^th.

What has been the people’s response so far?
It has been really good, considering the fact that recycling is a new thing in Lebanon. Ziad Abi-Chaker, who owns recycling plants here, was interested in sponsoring the project, in order, maybe, to make it an annual event, with a different theme every year.

What kind of materials do you usually use for your creations?
It depends. In Brazil, people use a lot of paper and plastic bottles. In Portland, it is bicycle parts, since people ride a lot. In Spain, art is more conceptual; they’ll create furniture or develop abstract ideas to change perceptions about garbage.

How do you get the money for the project?
It is mostly funds that I’ve saved up. But my mother and some friends here also help me.

Where can we learn more about “Live Debris”?
You can find on-going information and pictures on Facebook (Live Debris) or by e-mailing us at redsemilla@riseup.net Then, once the exhibition at UMAM is over, I’ll do a formal web-exhibit.