Apparently, it is not enough for Icelandic-Danish artist Ólafur Elíasson to be ranked twelfth among living artists (according to artfacts.net). He has increasingly been extending his work into design and even architecture. He has therefore become, paradoxically, an annual participant in the biannual events in Venice's Giardini, showing in connection with the art biennale last year and in the architecture biennale this year on behalf of Iceland (cosmopolitan as well as versatile, he has also represented Denmark in Venice).

The reason for Ólafur's participation in Venice this year is his design for the long-awaited new concert hall and conference certre to be built soon by the harbour in donwtown Reykjavík. Ólafur won the competition for his design in cooperation with Danish architects Henning Larsen Tegnestue. Ólafur's most striking and recognisable contribution is in the "skin" of the large building which is a three-dimensional mosaic of glass shapes which capture light in complicated ways, renderning the building translucent and changing with the weather - which in Iceland changes all the time.

According to Olafur and the architects: "The building’s design is influenced by the impressive and dramatic Icelandic landscape. The nature is an endless source of colours: from glowing red to indigo blue, with variations from roaring ocean with white-foaming waves to a still, glassy sea."

Henning Larsen and Ólafur have, of course, worked together before on the recently opened opera house in Copenhagen where Ólafur provided lights for Larsen's sweeping and dramatic structure. This is the first time, however, that Iceland has participated in the architecture exhibition in Venice, now come around for the tenth time.