martyn coutts

HAVING A SETUP
Some mornings, in a perfect world, you might wake up, have a coffee, finish meditation, and say, “Okay, today I’m going into the shop to work on a lamp.” This idea comes to you, you can see it, but to accomplish it you need what I call a “setup.” For example, you may need a working shop or a working painting studio. You may need a working music studio. Or a computer room where you can write something. It’s crucial to have a setup, so that, as any given moment, when you get an idea, you have the place and the tools to make it happen.
If you don’t have a setup, there are many times when you get the inspiration, the idea, but you have no tools, no place to put it together. And the idea just sits there and festers. Over time, it will go away. You didn’t fulfill it – and that’s just a heartache.
(David Lynch, Catching The Big Fish, 2006)

Oh David, you are truly a madman sometimes  – but this is a wisdom for all artists and this clip is gold;

Things are coalescing for me about the way that I practice my art.

In response to what Mr Lynch says in the passage above – i am at the moment working at my kitchen table which for the past few days has been good, it has felt productive. However it is still my kitchen…and therefore impedes upon my domestic life.

HA! and this above is my study which hasn’t been tidied since before Electrofringe in October last year. CLEARLY this isn’t ‘the setup’ that David Lynch is talking about.

I started working with a small group of performers last night at LUPA art space. It is funny trying to remember how big a rehearsal space is in your mind – it usually ends up being smaller once you are standing in it. And indeed that is what it felt like having 4 performers moving in there. But it actually was a good size and the wooden floors made it such a warm place to be (this apart from the 30 something degrees inside). This work is a follow on from the workshops I was taking in Perth that revolve around rules, authenticity and liveness.

I am taking six workshops over the next three weeks which feels great. I am feeling that this intensive way of working is they way to go. Trying to maintain a physical practice or to have an ensemble is not possible due to the fluctuating nature of my work schedule – but this way of smaller periods of condensed activity feels sustainable.

Yesterday I had a Skype meeting with Kate Richards my Wayfarer collaborator to talk about the Melbourne season this year. The meeting was really positive and we realised that we do our best work when we are in the same room together. This means a rethinking of the way that we work together because we live in different cities, so instead we try and have short intensives to move the project forward instead of long periods of remote work.

I guess these three ideas – > Lynch’s ‘having a setup’, – > working physically in a room with performers and – > using short intensives to consolidate a practice are all part of a idea about how I can work with all of my collaborations and all my projects and still remain focussed.

Having a space to make work, maintaining a practice and being 100% focused when I am ‘in the room’ is 2009 for me.