Entering the Space-out competition: I tried to be the best at doing nothing – but my opponent had a secret weapon

‘Fountain lady, who admits that the trickling water in her costume was designed to make her fellow contestants need to pee, is declared the winner’ … Amelia Lumley, who won the Space-out competition in Melbourne on 9 June. Photograph: Eugene Hyland

I am someone who finds it extraordinarily difficult to sit still or be quiet. On one family road trip, my mother challenged me not to speak for 20 minutes, with a prize of $100 for my efforts. I lasted approximately 30 seconds. My ADHD diagnosis at 32 was the natural progression of my life.

The Space-out competition, held in Melbourne on Monday, was the ultimate test of whether I could fight my own nature and embrace nothingness. Created by South Korean artist Woopsyang as a response to her own experience of burnout, the competition has been running for more than a decade around the world with a simple proposition: a mini-city of competitors, all dressed as their jobs, sit in a public space doing absolutely nothing for 90 minutes.