Seoul's annual Space-Out Competition set for May 11

Participants zone out during the Space-Out Competition at Jamsu Bridge in central Seoul's Banpo Hangang Park, May 12, 2024. Korea Times file

If you thought peak human achievement involved innovation and output, Seoul is here to remind us that sometimes, the ultimate skill is the art of masterful inaction.

The city's beloved Space-Out Competition, a yearly testament to the profound value of doing precisely zilch, is set to make its glorious return next month.

The event is scheduled for 4 p.m. on May 11 at Jamsu Bridge in Banpo Hangang Park, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday. First held in 2014, the competition has become a cultural phenomenon for exhausted individuals, with 2,787 teams competing for just 80 spots last year.

Participants must stay completely still and expressionless for 90 minutes — no talking, no moving, just zoning out. Winners are selected based on both technical and artistic scores. The technical score is based on heart rate data collected every 15 minutes, with steadier or gradually decreasing rates earning higher marks. The artistic score is determined by votes from the on-site audience.

Spectators vote for the participant who looks the most zoned out. Artistic and technical scores are combined to select the top 10 teams, while the top three winners and special award recipients are chosen based on the highest technical scores.

During the competition, participants can signal their needs using four colored cards: red for a massage, yellow to be fanned, blue for water and black to indicate other discomforts.

The city will recruit 80 teams for the competition beginning at 10 a.m. Friday until noon on April 26 via spaceoutcompetition.com and @thespaceoutcompetition on Instagram. Each team can have up to three participants.

The final list of participants will be announced at 10 a.m. on April 28 through the official website and Instagram page, with individual notifications sent to each participant. In case of cancellations on event day, replacements will be selected on-site.

Send inquiries to spaceoutcompetition@gmail.com for more information.

Notable past winners include R&B singer Crush, who took the title in 2016. Last year’s participants came from a wide range of professions, including a data linguist, psychiatrist, short track and boxing athletes, a firefighter and an aircraft maintenance engineer. Four foreign nationals also took part in the event.