March 6-7 agenda: Academy Awards ceremony

(AFP/GABRIEL BOUYS)

This weekend's highlights comprise the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, a conference on the evolution of furniture in London, contemporary art in the Middle East, the pioneers of modern art on view in Amsterdam, among other events.

Pioneers of Modern Art from the Hermitage
March 6- September 17
Hermitage Amsterdam
Amsterdam, Netherlands

The second temporary exhibition organized since the opening of Hermitage Amsterdam, Matisse to Malevich: Pioneers of Modern Art presents about 75 paintings from Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg) by Matisse, Picasso, Van Dongen, De Vlaminck, Derain, Malevich and many others.
http://www.hermitage.nl

Furniture in the 20th Century conference
March 6
Victoria & Albert Museum
London, UK

Surveying major designers and centres of furniture design and production, this international conference will approach topics such as Bauhaus furniture and post-war Italian design from new perspectives. Speakers include Juliet Kinchin (Museum of Modern Art, New York), Marjan Groot (Leiden University), Greg Castillo (University of California, Berkeley), Glenn Adamson (V&A/RCA) and Christopher Wilk (V&A). Tickets cost £45 (€51).
http://www.vam.ac.uk

Oscars: 82nd Academy Awards Ceremony
March 7
Kodak Theatre
Los Angeles, California, USA

The leading film awards ceremony gets the world's attention on Hollywood for an event filled with culture, fashion, celebrities and humor with the evening's hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. The 2010 Academy Award race is expected to be one of the most wide open in years while the battle for the coveted best picture statuette has been expanded to include 10 nominees.
http://www.oscars.org

Contempoarabia
March 7-19
Middle East and Gulf

Art Dubai organizes an event starting before the fair, the Contempoarabia project, that coordinates a program of special events including architectural tours, performances, talks, screenings and more in Beirut (Lebanon), Amman (Jordan), Damascus (Syria) and the UAE. In four years, Art Dubai has become a key player with over 70 galleries from 30 countries and offers an extensive program of side events including the Global Art Forum and the Abraaj Capital Art Prize between March 17 and 20.
http://www.contemparabia.com

Read an E-Book Week
March 7-13
Worldwide

The annual Read an E-Book Week was created to promote and share the advantages of reading electronically. During this week, visitors are invited to browse the event website, where dozens of authors and book vendors offer free titles for a limited time. Going since 2003, the event took off in 2009, with more than 30,000 web hits coming from around the globe.
http://ebookweek.com