BERLIN— The 40,000 or so visitors to this year’s Art Forum Berlin, which closed Sunday after a four-day run at the city’s Messe complex, were treated to what was generally regarded as a new start for the city’s 14-year-old event. There was a post-event consensus that sales had been reasonably healthy across the board, largely thanks to a fresh impetus and restructuring from the newly appointed directors Peter Vetsch and Eva-Maria Häusler, both formerly of Art Basel.

The pair faced a not insignificant challenge — not only was there the looming shadow of a global recession to contend with, but Art Forum Berlin itself has been a source of much controversy in recent years, with many of the city’s galleries having boycotted recent editions. Newer events, such as Art Contemporary Berlin and the Preview Art Fair, have poached a large quantity of younger, more esoteric galleries operating on a typically Berlinerisch shoestring budget. And while the annual Art Weekend each May, set up by a cabal of 20 of so galleries disillusioned by prior Art Forums, brings some of the world’s biggest spenders to the city, they’re largely occupied while they’re there, with a whirl of dinners, studio visits, and private viewings.

According to a major Berlin dealer who did not take part this year, Art Forum Berlin has consistently failed in recent years to engage many of the city’s higher-end dealers and galleries, in favor of younger, more commercial spaces, leading to suspect quality standards and accusations of unfair selection procedures. “So many new galleries were popping out of the ground over the last few years,” he said, “and the older galleries were being ignored.”

“I think there were some problems with [previous] management,” admitted new co-director Vetsch, speaking on the fair's second day. “Over the past 14 years, there have been some misunderstandings and fights between the Berlin art people. But for us, it’s not that important anymore: We are looking to the future.”

The new leadership has been working hard to avoid any dissonance within the notoriously insular and clique-ridden local scene. Responding to criticism leveled from older, more established galleries, the 2009 selection committee aimed to serve both high-end establishments and the younger, edgier spaces that have flourished in recent years.

Berlin galleries turned out in force, including Max Hetzler, Johann König, Klosterfelde, Feinkost, Thomas Schulte, Barbara Weiss, Sommer & Kohl, and Neugerriemschneider, which together with international visitors brought the overall booth count to a respectable 130. But there were no star mega-brands — Gagosians, White Cubes, Haunches of Venison, or the like — nor was there much from beyond European borders, save a handful of exhibitors from the Americas and Africa. “It’s quite boring,” said the anonymous dealer disdainfully. “The big names are missing still. They should make it more distinctive, get some more galleries in from Moscow. That would bring the Americans back.”

The show was split into two main areas: “Galleries,” with 100 international galleries showing work dating from 1960 to the present, and “Focus,” with 30 galleries five years old or younger. These were augmented by “Plein Air,” a pretty nondescript collection of sculpture and installations in the outdoor Sommergarten, and a series of panel discussions and artist talks on topics ranging from the state of the Hungarian art scene (verdict: uncertain) to an entertaining debate on the relative merits of Berlin and Paris as “art cities.”

As for sales, most galleries had arrived with expectations firmly damped down. Recalling the halcyon days of 2006–07 — the era of first-day stampedes and checkbook-waving hysteria — there was an initial sense of fatalism in the air. Yet by the close of business on Sunday, many galleries claimed to have made a few worthwhile additions to their address books, if nothing else, with many commenting on the number of “new faces,” or entry-level buyers starting collections.