The University of Fine Arts in Hamburg, Germany has decided to create a completely new type of grant, called an ‘idleness grant.’ Impossible, you may say! Yet, three students will be chosen and paid to do absolutely nothing!
Discover our latest podcast
Time to waste and money to gain
According to The Guardian, which heard about this incredible project, the call for applications launched on August 19th on the university's Facebook page was so successful that Hamburg's Fine Arts have been overwhelmed with applications. However, the newspaper points out that candidates, whether students or not, have until September 15th to apply for the idleness grant and ‘convince a jury that the area of active idleness they have chosen is particularly impressive or relevant.’
The three lucky ones will be awarded a grant of £1,400 and will have to carry out their project: to do nothing for a given period of time in order to participate in a study on the notion of inactivity.
‘Doing nothing isn’t very easy’
While the lure of being paid to do nothing has prompted many candidates to send in their applications, the architect and design theorist Friedrich von Borries, who initiated this project, would like to point out that this is a very serious experiment.
Doing nothing isn’t very easy (…) We want to focus on active inactivity. If you say you are not going to move for a week, then that’s impressive. If you propose you are not going to move or think, that might be even better.
The goal? To deconstruct this world in which we promote sustainable development while advocating for success, explains The Guardian.
The project will be carried out until mid-January, the month in which the idleness grant will be paid out only if the three candidates hand in an ‘experience report.’ All applications will be part of an exhibition in Hamburg entitled ‘The School of Inconsequentiality: Towards A Better Life.’
Quite the program!
