www.avinteractive.com: More than 20 people have reported burning eye pain, vision problems and skin irritation after attending a party for NFT owners in Hong Kong on 4 November.
An estimated 2,500 crypto enthusiasts were at the event at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, which was part of ApeFest, a three-day event hosted by Bored Ape Yacht Club.
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We all know not to stare directly into sunlight because it damages our eyes (also, it’s just painful trying to do that). The same principle applies to looking at the snow – it reflects sunlight, and if you don’t wear eye protection, your eyes will be damaged after long hours of exposure, whether you are staring directly at the snow or not. But I can say that it’s not as intuitive to think about the possible damages of lighting when designing for an event or performance space. One reason is that the hours don’t tend to be that long (i.e. you are estimating to spend about 2-4 hours there), so the assumption is that these exposures are very short-term and temporary. However, it is likely that the event planner was simply not aware of the danger of UV lights. I wonder whether the problem was caused by using a specific type of lighting fixture, or is it the paint? It is always good to find out the cause so that more people will be aware not to repeat the same mistake.
So I’ve read stories about this and it seems like the most likely cause of all the eye damage is germicidal UV fluorescents. If this is the case, it wouldn’t be the first time that someone mistook a germicidal light for Black Light Blue (BLB) lights. This mistake can be quite dangerous as Germicidal lights can cause irreparable damage. I want to take time to give a little safety PSA, if you ever see a fluorescent light that looks blue-ish, and is completely clear allowing you to see the actual arc of the lamp, immediately shield your eyes and get away from it. The only UV lights that are safe for display is Black Light Blue lights. I might be misinformed, but I feel like the distribution of these kinds of lamps should be a little better controlled. Anyways, if you want more information about UVC Germicidal lights or this incident in particular, here’s a link
youtu.be/6DlfLthx89E?si=E7gbHxGZL6fnUcxh
From a young age we are all taught not to stare into the sun because UV lights are bad for your eyes. Nevermind the fact that actually looking at the sun hurts, it hurts because your body is telling you it's bad for you and to look away. It is the same in the snow. The snow reflects the light and causes damage if one is exposed to it for long periods of time. Apparently at this concert the lighting was compromised in some way causing people to lose vision or wake up in the middle of the night with severe pain. The current guess as to the cause is either the way the light reflected off the paint or the lights themselves were compromised, likely using the wrong bulbs. As a technician I wonder how something so dangerous like this could slip through the cracks and it makes me ask how do we prevent this error in future productions and concerts.
The crash of NFTs has led to a lot of money being lost. Compared to this time just a year ago, potentially billions of dollars of devaluing has occurred as the hype surrounding NFTs dies down. Taking this lesson into theater, we need to be careful how we source money for our productions, and need to rely on smart financial decisions to allow us to keep making art. We can capitalize on fad–sure, we’ve done that forever–but we also need to create timeless art about human stories, the kind of art that isn’t susceptible to the whims of the markets. By being careful with our money, we can also make smart decisions about how it is to be spent: in other words, not purchasing lights that will burn into people’s retinas. The damage seems in the article to be caused by a certain more intense kind of UV light–one that I probably won’t be using in my designs any time soon.
I mean, I have a lot of (exclusively negative) thoughts on NFTs, the people who are big NFT-ers, Bored Ape, and certainly the concept of what is essentially an NFT convention, but putting that aside, it definitely sucks to have attended an event and then had your eyes and skin be burnt and damaged by the lighting there, unbeknownst to you, who had just been expecting a good time, and not to wake up and not be able to see. UV light is definitely one of those things that it’s easy to forget can be as dangerous as it is, particularly with how we’re around it and exposed to it constantly (I know that I certainly don’t use sunscreen as much as I should - oops). However, it’s definitely a little shocking and mildly concerning that this event used types of UV lighting that are dangerous for people to be exposed of. I don’t know a ton on the subject, but I do know there’s a couple types of UV light, and I know that black lights are still technically UV but are considered to be safe. So, it’s definitely worrisome that someone could have possibly not done enough research to know what types of lighting to use, and additionally, that it’s possible for dangerous lighting to be easily acquired by the public.
Odd that the festival is saying that they do not know exactly what is causing this pain and burning when medical professionals are saying that it was the UV paint and lights. I don’t totally think it is a food idea to have something like UV lights at a festival where there are people that are possibly have substances in their system. I wonder what the responsibility of the festival in regard to the people in the hospital. On one hand, there are people that are in pain and the festival should have done more research on what they were putting into their festivals to interact with festival goers. On the other hand, what is the responsibility of the patrons attending the festival to be conscious of where they are looking and what they are putting on their skin. I think that the festival doubling down that they are still looking into the cause and not admitting what caused this problem is an issue in itself.
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