BBC art dealing game show reveals 'crisis of commodification' facing galleries

BBC’s new reality-style game show, The Big Deal, challenges amateur contestants to become successful art dealers. Created by Stellify Media, the six-part series follows the format of the long-running BBC show Bargain Hunt with a contemporary art twist. Seven teams of contestants compete to make money by selling recent art college graduate works at auctions, decorating luxury homes, selling prints at fairs, and marketing works by Berlin-based artists online.

The artists featured are little-known and the pieces have an accessible style. Host Steph McGovern and director Cordelia de Freitas oversee the competition, which aims to raise £50,000 in prize money.

While the show attempts to make contemporary art accessible, it ultimately treats art as a commodity rather than a work of art. Criticizing the show’s shallow engagement with the contemporary art market, the piece highlights the broader trend of financialization and commodification that has been affecting the fine art market for decades.

Art professionals are concerned about the future of the market, with auction houses doing well but galleries struggling to make money. The art market faces challenges due to geopolitical, technological, financial, and demographic changes, and there are calls for galleries to clamp down on flipping, increase price transparency, and focus on local markets.

There is also discussion about the potential of artificial intelligence to revolutionize the market. However, the piece argues that the discussion often overlooks the art itself and focuses instead on the monetary aspects, with artists and art becoming abstracted nouns in the conversation.