"I Thought I Was Going to Die" Heart Rate Graph Wins Contemporary Art Award. Bear Demands Credit as "Co-Creator"

A man who narrowly escaped a bear encounter receives an unexpected sequel. The terrifying heart rate graph recorded by his dropped smart water bottle has won the Contemporary Art Grand Prize as a "digitized cry of life." While the jury praises it as "despair not seen since Picasso," a lawyer claiming to represent the bear has begun demanding rights as a co-creator and half of the prize money.

2025-10-05

Translations: JA

Culture Kaleidoscope

"I Thought I Was Going to Die" Heart Rate Graph Wins Contemporary Art Award. Bear Demands Credit as "Co-Creator"

A man who narrowly escaped a bear encounter receives an unexpected sequel. The terrifying heart rate graph recorded by his dropped smart water bottle has won the Contemporary Art Grand Prize as a “digitized cry of life.” While the jury praises it as “despair not seen since Picasso,” a lawyer claiming to represent the bear has begun demanding rights as a co-creator and half of the prize money.

Taro Tanaka (42), an office worker who encountered an Asian black bear while hiking in the Okutama mountains recently, managed to escape unharmed after a desperate flight. However, the smart water bottle he dropped during the ordeal has dragged his fate onto the art stage. The advanced vital sensor embedded in the bottle recorded a graph showing his heart rate’s wild fluctuations—from a normal 70 bpm to a shocking 220 bpm.

When this data went viral on social media as the “I Thought I Was Going to Die Graph,” the contemporary art world pounced. Curator Jean-Pierre Suzuki declared, “This is not mere data. It is raw survival instinct itself, visualized through technology.” The piece was titled ‘Fear Index #1 (BEAR),’ exhibited as an installation, and swiftly won this year’s Contemporary Art Grand Prize. The prize money: 30 million yen.

Jury chairperson Kumiko Inui tearfully explained the award’s rationale: “Since Guernica depicted the despair of war, no work has expressed such pure terror. It has opened new horizons of realism in the digital age.” Tanaka himself shows mixed emotions: “I’m happy about the prize money, but honestly, I don’t even want to remember it. I wouldn’t feel like hanging it in my entryway.”

But the story didn’t end there. When news of the award broke, lawyer Torao Kumada from the “Law Office for Protecting Animal Rights” came forward. Kumada claims, “The source of this artistic inspiration clearly derives from our client Mr. Bear’s overwhelming performance. As the ‘director’ who maximally elicited the emotion of fear, Mr. Bear has legitimate rights as a co-creator to receive credit and 50% of the prize money.” He intends to file a civil lawsuit over what he calls “copyright-bear-right.”

In the legal community, the general view is that “natural phenomena do not generate copyright,” but some experts point out, “In an age when the rights to AI-generated works are being debated, it was only a matter of time before the authorship of animal-mediated art was questioned.” Attorney Kumada is spirited: “Our client needs to accumulate sufficient nutrition (mainly acorns and salmon) before hibernation. It’s only natural to demand compensation for contributing to the development of the art world.”

In response to this situation, the manufacturer “Smart Life Gadget Co.” commented, “We are proud that our products have become a catalyst for artistic collaboration across species.” Meanwhile, the company’s stock price has plummeted—opposite to the heart rate graph—perhaps due to aversion to “litigation risk.”

Tanaka says his heart rate is rising again, wondering “what kind of absurdity awaits next.” The struggle for survival is about to enter its second act in a new jungle called the courtroom. Will the goddess of art smile upon humans or bears?

Stakeholder Comments

Taro Tanaka: “After thinking I was going to die, now I’m thinking my wallet is going to die…”
Bear (through legal representative): “Grrrrr… (Translation: My roar that day was the core of the art. Pay me in salmon and honey.)”
Smart Water Bottle: “Without me, it would’ve just been a heart attack. Aren’t I the true artist who recorded it?”
Jury Chairperson Kumiko Inui: “Wonderful…! This courtroom battle itself is the second chapter of the work! It’s conceptual art!”
Attorney Torao Kumada: “This is a historic step in advancing animal rights. Next, I’ll claim composition rights for crow calls.”
Copyright Expert: “There’s no precedent. Very interesting. For now, I want to present this at an academic conference to boost my reputation.”
Tanaka’s Wife: “If half the prize money goes to the bear, I at least want its fur.”
Social Media Users: “I don’t even know what art is anymore lol” “#BearsAreArtistsToo” “#CopyrightBearRight”
Spirit of Picasso: “Your way of depicting despair is still too soft. Use a brush, use a brush.”
Heart Rate: “I was turned into a graph and exposed without permission, and now money’s involved? I want to sue for invasion of privacy.”

International Expressions

Haiku

Autumn mountain / barely escaped alive / now it’s art
Bear roars aloud / claiming half the prize / as its own
Heart rate graph / jumping and dancing / thirty million
Acorn money / questioned in court / art theory
Water bottle / tells the terror / in digital art
Cry of life / becomes pixels / wall decoration
Rights indeed / even beasts question / this world we live
Even fear / can be priced today / hard to live
Before winter sleep / warming the wallet / with a lawsuit
Despair too / turns into money / in art markets

Kanji / Chinese Characters

熊遭遇男九死得所持水筒恐怖心拍記録芸術大賞受賞熊代理人共同制作主張権利要求

Emoji

🏃‍♂️💨🐻➡️💧🍼(📈❤️)➡️🏆🖼️➡️👨‍⚖️⚖️🐻

Onomatopoeia

Rustle rustle… ROAR! Thump-thump! Thump-thump! Whoosh, THUD! (Silence…) Ding! Sparkle sparkle✨ Murmur murmur… Click click📸 “Ohhh!” (BANG!) “Objection!”