Love Doing Nothing? This Is the Competition for You
More than a century ago, Welsh poet William Henry Davies wondered what sort of life we were living if we had "no time to stand and stare."
If people didn't have enough time back then, it's only gotten worse now.
And that's exactly why a South Korean artist had the idea for a competition in which people have to do nothing — just stand and stare.
Actually, the people who took part in this year's Space-out competition spent most of their time sitting. To "space out" means to not really be aware of what is happening around you.
In May, 117 people sat on yoga mats in Seoul to find out who was the best at "spacing out" and doing nothing.
Participants had to sit quietly on their mats for 90 minutes without checking their phones, sleeping, laughing, chatting, singing, dancing or eating.
They wrote their motivations for taking part in the event on a large whiteboard.
Many wanted to enjoy some peace and take time for themselves.
Their heart rates were checked every 15 minutes, and people watching were able to read the participants' motivations and vote for their favorites.
The organizers looked at the 10 participants with the most votes, and the winner was the one whose heart rate was the most stable during the 90 minutes.
Some well-known people took part, including Olympic skater Kwak Yoon-gy, YouTuber Kim Seok-hwan and Japanese K-pop singer Tsuki.
But the winner was a 35-year-old named Kwon So-ah.
The Space-out competition first took place in 2014, when an artist known as Woopsyang decided it would be nice to "pause all together at the same place at the same time."
She said she wanted to show that stopping and sitting is "no longer a waste of time but a time that you really need."
