Tritium Exit Signs Gain Indie Art Cred, Now Selling for $4,000 at Williamsburg Galleries

Self-luminous tritium exit signs, the mildly radioactive safety devices found in commercial buildings across America, have become the hottest commodity in Brooklyn's art scene, with reclaimed units selling for up to $4,000 at galleries in Williamsburg and Bushwick. The signs, which contain sealed glass tubes of tritium gas that activate a phosphor coating to produce a constant green or red glow without external power, have been embraced by a collective of artists who describe themselves as 'post-electric luminists.' 'The exit sign is the ultimate found object,' said artist and collective founder Lux Isotope, standing beside an installation of 47 reclaimed signs arranged to spell 'NOWHERE' in the back room of a converted warehouse. 'It glows on its own. It needs nothing. It is art that has already rejected the grid.' The signs contain between 10 and 20 curies of tritium, a radioactive hydrogen isotope with a half-life of 12.3 years. While tritium's beta radiation cannot penetrate skin, the NRC requires that the signs be handled as radioactive material and disposed of through licensed facilities — a requirement that appears to have been overlooked in the signs' transition from office building to art gallery. 'We were not aware the signs were radioactive,' said gallery owner Petra Vernissage, after being informed by a reporter. 'We were told they were luminescent. There's a difference. Probably.' The NRC has opened an investigation. In the meantime, the art world has responded to the controversy by increasing prices. 'Radioactive art is even more transgressive than we thought,' said Isotope. 'The show just became a commentary on invisible danger. The prices are going up.' One sign, which still reads EXIT, sold for $4,200 to a collector who described it as 'a meditation on leaving.'