School of Saatchi - Episode 1

Charles Saatchi, the powerful art world kingmaker behind the Brit Art revolution, is looking for the next Tracey Emin or Damien Hirst. He will select six unknown artists and set them up in their own east London studio. Here they will be commissioned to make a series of ambitious artworks which will be assessed by Saatchi and a panel of experts. Ultimately Saatchi will select one artist to join his next major exhibition, Newspeak: British Art Now, at the Hermitage Gallery in St Petersburg, and offer them the additional opportunity of their own studio for three years. The series will explore the strange and controversial world of contemporary art and try to discover the substance that lies behind the hype. An esteemed selection panel, consisting of artist Tracey Emin, critic and broadcaster Matthew Collings, art collector Frank Cohen and Barbican curator Kate Bush, whittle down thousands of applicants to 12 artists they think worthy of being seen by Charles Saatchi. In their hunt for artists with real potential, the panel are confronted by the full bizarre array of artists and artwork that constitutes contemporary art. These 12 are then invited to exhibit work for Charles Saatchi himself who, with panel's advice, will pluck six of them from obscurity to enjoy the bounties of his patronage for ten weeks in his art studio.