University Handing Out Grants for Doing Nothing

Getting a university grant sometimes requires an extraordinary amount of work. In this case, not so much. The University of Fine Arts in Hamburg, Germany, is handing out three "idleness grants" of $1,900 each, reports UPI. The name is accurate: The university will pay four people to do nothing. And to get the grants, participants must make the case that their particular version of nothing is worth it. “Doing nothing isn’t very easy,” Friedrich von Borries, an architect and design theorist behind the program, tells the Guardian. “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 bigger picture behind the program is this: to examine the idea that refraining from specific actions can reduce the negative consequences we have on the lives of others. Those interested have until September 15 to submit applications in which they will try to sway judges with their answers to four questions, per the Guardian: "What do you not want to do? For how long do you not want to do it? Why is it important not to do this thing in particular? Why are you the right person not to do it?" (More strange stuff stories.)