Zone out and get awarded at the '2022 Han River Space-Out Competition'

Seoul City will host the “2022 Han River Space-Out Competition” on Sept. 4 at the Jamsugyo Bridge for the first time in three years. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Seoul City will host the “2022 Han River Space-Out Competition” on Sept. 4 at the Jamsugyo Bridge for the first time in three years, according to the city on Monday.

Jamsugyo Bridge is located directly under Banpo Bridge, which connects central Seoul’s Yongsan District and southern Seoul’s Seocho District. The competition will take place at 3 p.m.

During the 90-minute competition, participants sit on the grass lawn by the riverside and stare at the river, zoning out. Participants are required to say nothing, do nothing and stay zoned out for the entire duration.

The event’s organizers measure each participant’s heart rate every 15 minutes and have people vote on who is the most spaced out. A stable heart rate or a steady decrease is considered to be good performance.

The competition started in 2016 in order to break the notion of modern society that not doing anything productive is unworthy.

During the competition, participants can communicate with the organizers by holding up colored cards: red signals a request for a light massage, yellow to get fanned by others and blue for water.

The first-place winner will receive a trophy and an award certificate, while the runner-up and third place receive award certificates only. Every participant will take home a certificate of participation. A yoga class and “space-out” mediational music session is planned after the competition.

A total of 50 teams (each team consisting of a maximum of three people) can sign up from Monday to Aug. 28 on the event’s website at spaceoutcompetition.com or through the event's Instagram and Facebook.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]