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

The BBC has launched “The Big Deal,” a six-part reality-style competition hosted by Steph McGovern in which seven pairs of novice contestants attempt to profit by selling contemporary art, with a final prize of £50,000 worth of British art. Produced by Stellify Media, the show has contestants flipping works by recent art-school graduates through activities such as small auctions in London, staging luxury homes, selling prints at a fair in Margate, and marketing Berlin-based artists online, under the oversight of McGovern and Aqua Art Fair Miami director Cordelia de Freitas. The program has been criticized for treating art primarily as a money-making commodity rather than focusing on artistic value, echoing concerns raised by Berlin artist duo 44flavours in the series. The article contrasts the show’s approach with earlier BBC art programming such as John Berger’s “Ways of Seeing” and David Sylvester’s interviews with Francis Bacon.

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