​​Deviation Protocol takes its title from the statistical concept of “standard deviation.” Standard deviation indicates how widely a set of data is dispersed around its mean; a value that moves away from the mean is not an error, but part of the distribution. Taking this distance as its point of departure, the exhibition approaches deviation not as a flaw to be corrected, but as a possibility suggesting that life might be organised otherwise.

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From this perspective, “protocol” also shifts from its conventional meaning. Rather than a set of rules designed to prevent deviation or keep behaviour within prescribed limits, it becomes a commitment: a declaration of one’s willingness to remain open to stepping outside a predetermined route without knowing in advance where, toward what, or when one might deviate. The direction of deviation is therefore not defined beforehand; the rest is left to chance, encounters, and the courage to change.

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Yet the possibility of deviating from one’s own path first raises the question of how that path was drawn, and by whom. Questioning norms constructed around family, gender, success, the body, and belonging, the exhibition considers deviation not simply as moving away from these norms, but as a way of establishing one’s own rhythm and reclaiming the right to change direction.

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This possibility of liberation does not, however, erase the fact that deviation is not always a chosen movement. While some deviations occur through personal choice, others are imposed by circumstances. Deviation Protocol therefore situates itself within the tension between a chosen journey and displacement, between adventure and being subjected to circumstances. Rather than defining the right path, it asks who draws that path, who has the right to leave it, and for whom deviation becomes not a freedom but a necessity.

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In this sense, the exhibition resembles a protest that cannot cry out, yet refuses to stop searching for a way out. There is a sense of confinement and an underlying tension generated by political, economic, and social conditions that cannot be reduced to a single cause; yet finding another direction outside these conditions hardly seems possible. The exhibition articulates this state of confinement through playful gestures and repetitions that verge on a kind of madness. Here, deviation does not necessarily open up a new path; at times, it becomes a way of refusing to accept existing conditions and of repeatedly testing whether another possibility might still exist.

WORKS

Bengü Karaduman

Walking the Line – Stepping out of the Line
Video Performance, 14’, 2023

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Cengiz Tekin

Red Carpet
Video, 4’ 9’’, 2013

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Ece Ağırtmış

Mistakes
Acrylic paint and poplar plywood, 39 × 22 cm, 2023

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Merve Kılıçer

Bukağı
Woven wool strip and nails, site-specific installation, variable dimensions, 2022

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Özgür Demirci

A Story of Failure
HD video, colour and sound, 0’34’’, 2015

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Sümer Sayın

Action Plan
Swing installation, variable dimensions, 2017

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