There was a fresh face at this year’s Copenhagen Art Week. CODE Art Fair (26-28 August) took place under the umbrella of Scandinavia’s oldest art fair, Art Copenhagen — this year marking its 20th anniversary — alongside the contrasting Selected Art Fair, both of which were on view in the cavernous Bella Center, in Copenhagen’s south.

The aim, according to Kristian W. Andersen, Director of Art Copenhagen, was to present a more refined edition of the overarching concept this year, with the introduction of CODE, headed by Julie Leopold Alf and a curatorial team of six: Peter Ibsen, Christina Wilson, Claus Risvig, Mikkel Carl, Ryan Steadman and Ryan Wallace. Together the team succeeded in establishing a compact but strong fair of 48 galleries and two exhibitions — “Flat Fix” and “Danmark” — presenting a decidedly international showing of artists and galleries from around Europe and North America, in a counterpoint to sister fair, Selected.

Stand out selections were Matthias Malling Mortensen’s delicate papercuts of irregular pattern making, negative space and shadow casting at Les Gens Heureux, as well as fellow Copenhagen-based artist Kristian Touborg’s new series of paintings of reflective, rippling sea water at London’s Rod Barton. Lars Morell’s vintage poster recreations at Cinnamon drew attention, as did Stefan Muller’s raw paintings, often on unprimed canvas, at Galerie Nagel Draxler.

“Flat Fix” greeted viewers at the fair’s entrance. New York-based artists and curators Ryan Steadman and Ryan Wallace used the show to introduce Danes to some favorite American painters (several of whom were found outside of this tightly-curated painters-show; Ted Gahl and Graham Collins for example, both up for grabs at Galleri Jacob Bjorn). Rosy Keyser, Joe Fyfe, Kristian Kennedy, and Johannes Vanderbeek, were other notable inclusions, along with pieces by the curators’ themselves.

“Danmark,” curated by Copenhagen based artist Mikkel Carl was an ambitious exhibition encompassing painting, sculpture, text, installation, performance, photography, and video that took aim at the country’s art establishment. Carl highlighted a mix of Danish artists, from emerging to established, who have found gallery representation outside of Denmark but are oddly unsupported within the country. A powerful inclusion was DANMARK by Jens Haaning. Painted on the exhibition’s entrance-facing wall, the artist’s large rendering of one word: DANMARK, provoked some considerations and perhaps even discomfort, that resonated throughout the hall. First exhibited at Nicolai Wallner Gallery in 2005, the work seeks to raise questions about nationality and cultural identity — and the range of interpretations that allows, depending on who’s looking.

In light of the current political climate — recent national policy changes to reduce the intake of refugees, and a changing Europe brought on by Brexit being chief amongst Danes’ concerns — it could be said the work lent a weighty, and perhaps darker air to the nationalistic show. One was left wondering, did this exhibition effectively highlight unsupported homegrown talent, or did DANMARK, overshadow that aim, acting as a catalyst for debate surrounding the reputation of Danish nationalism during a period of its faltering political reputation? Though perhaps this question was more on the minds of those who witnessed, on the final day of the fair, curator Christina Wilson’s refusal to conduct an interview with Danish artist Asger Dybvad Larsen in English, despite the small crowd and his clear willingness to do so.

CODE presented some first-rate Scandinavian and international galleries showcasing strong work by established and up-and-coming artists in this first edition, but the teething problems were clear. A lack of English-speaking programming; a poor showing for sales of non-Scandinavian art among Scandinavian buyers; and a small international audience chief amongst the reasons why CODE was not as much of an attractor on the international scale as was projected by the pre-fair hype. The long shadow cast by DANMARK, however, may have in some ways, mitigated the apparent gap between the intention to create a fair that would attract an international audience, and the reality of this inaugural edition, which felt far more hospitable to Danish and Scandinavian fair-goers. Haaning’s work, at least, made this a part of the conversation. And perhaps, given this was only the first go-round, the international audience will grow in future years.