Doing nothing becomes a competitive sport

A competition to see who's best at doing nothing will be one of the highlights at the Melbourne Rising Festival. The Space Out event will last 90 minutes and participants have to excel at doing nothing while treating it like a competitive sport. In a world that glorifies hustle culture and productivity, this is encouraging the opposite. First held in 2014, South Korean artist Woopsyang set up the exhibition when she herself was struggling with burnout. It has since gone viral around the world travelling to Taiwan, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Tokyo and now Melbourne. The Rising Festival celebrates new art, music and performance in the city. Culture 101 speaks to co-artistic director, Hannah Fox, who saw the Space Out event in Tokyo and has brought it to Melbourne.