The International Association for the Study of Medieval and Modern period Mediterranean Ceramics (Association Internationale pour l’Étude des Céramiques Médiévales et Modernes en Méditerranée: AIECM3) is an international society which promotes and reinforces the study of medieval and modern period pottery in the Mediterranean (www.aiecm3.com).
It was established in 1992 (as the AIECM2) at the initiative of a group of founding researchers from different Mediterranean countries. It was first exclusively occupied by the study of western medieval pottery before enlarging its area of interest to the Eastern Mediterranean including the Byzantine World.
In 2012, on the occasion of the Silvès meeting, it was decided to enlarge the organization’s research field to include the study of ceramics of the modern era, and leading to it being renamed the AIECM3. The society organizes triennial plenary Congresses and occasional thematic meetings, and ensures the regular publication of the Acts.
The aim of these conferences is to present the cutting edge of research in every special field that is part of the wider context of medieval and modern ceramics but also to draw general conclusions from the study of the societies that produced, exported, imported and ultimately consumed these ceramics. For this reason, thematic axes are selected to facilitate the inclusion of lectures in more general thematic groups and the drawing of the final conclusions.
The next Congress will take place in Athens from October 21st to October 27, 2018.
The Congress is organized by the Department of Archaeology and the History of Art of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens with the participation of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (Institute of Historical Research), the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports (Ephorate of Antiquities of Arta, Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea) and the Centre for the Study of Modern Ceramics (G. Psaropoulos family Foundation). It is sponsored by the French School at Athens and other cultural organizations in Greece and abroad.
The General Themes of the next Congress will be:
– Workshops and ceramic technology
– Ceramology and archaeometry
– Pottery as a factor of commercial exchanges and shipwrecks
– Pottery as factor of social cohesion or differentiation
– New discoveries
More than 160 scholars from 4 continents will participate in the Athens Congress which will also include an exhibition of Modern pottery from Arta, a photo exhibition on baccini and an excursion to Thebes and Chalkis where the participants will get in touch with ceramic material recently discovered in the area.
