Deal #2: Catastrophe Deal series, 2025

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I produced the Catastrophe Deal series starting from a broken plate that shattered during the earthquake that struck Istanbul on April 23rd. 2025. (The first "Deal" project was realized in 2013 with a trader; this is the second.)

The plate was broken into six pieces, and these pieces formed the basis for six separate contracts, each tied to a possible disaster scenario for Istanbul: earthquake, heatwave, flood, strong wind, tornado, and hailstorm.

Each piece is sold with its own contract; if the specified event occurs within a year, the buyer returns the piece and receives a payout that is multiplied by a certain factor. If not, the contract expires.

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The idea is not mine; it is inspired by Catastrophe Bonds (CAT Bonds), a financial instrument developed in the United States in the 1990s as a tool for insurance companies to transfer the risks associated with disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Following the 1999 Gölcük Earthquake in Turkey, the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP) was established in collaboration with Munich Re, and the Natural Disaster Insurance Institution (DASK) began issuing catastrophe bonds.

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I have sold the CAT Deal series at the Feriköy Flea Market on November 2nd. The deals are sold out quickly. There were many questions, limit-testing offers, and clever comments. I suppose it was strange for both sides to be betting on the disasters that would likely befall us. This is precisely how finance—and capitalism—works. CAT Bonds are not only one of the most extreme examples of disasters being turned into opportunities, but they also imply how neoliberal capitalism shapes our daily lives.

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Now that the pieces and related contracts have been sold, I have 2400 TL. The pieces were once worthless and meaningless, but thanks to the contracts, they became part of a new narrative and gained a second life. If the mentioned disasters do not occur, my 2400 TL. is safe and mine. So I have one more reason to hope the disasters don't happen! Are the holders expecting disasters to occur so they can make money, even if it's not much? Or are they satisfied with purchasing a suspicious work of art with its certificate? (Where is the art anyway?) In either case, we now have a strange relationship with disasters, and of course, vague thoughts in our minds about what art is and what it is capable of.

All of this is a good reason to think about and stay alert to how the systems we are involved in, willingly or unwillingly, shape, direct, divert and manipulate our behavior.

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Thanks a lot to Marianne Wagner and Cengiz Özyurt for letting me use the spot at the market, and thanks to Volkan Aslan for the photos.