Every two years ALMA conference is organized as an open forum for wide interdisciplinary discussions concerning research, protection and restoration of artworks among Czech experts and students from the fields of natural sciences, history of art and restoration of artworks.
Conferences are organized by the ALMA Laboratory – a joint workplace of Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, v.v.i. Conference proceedings “Acta Artis Academica” of 2010, 2012 and 2014 are listed in the ISI Proceedings fully searchable in the Web of Science.
The date of the next ALMA conference will be slightly shifted to the end of May/beginning of June 2017 to take part in a wider series of international conferences and to synchronize with the partner conference in Krakow (Poland), that follows the same strategy – to bring the top scientific research to the practice of cultural heritage protection.
Additionally, the 2nd CrysAC (Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage) workshop will be organized within the frame of the ALMA conference as its integral part. It will be organized in co-operation of the CrysAC commission, Laboratory ALMA and the Czech and Slovak Crystallographic Association. This workshop was introduced for the first time at the 6th Meeting “X-ray and other techniques in investigation of the objects of cultural heritage” organized in May 2016 in Krakow (Poland) by Jagiellonian University and the Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage of the International Union of Crystallography.
The main aim of the conference is to offer a true interdisciplinary platform with a focus on case studies demonstrating the benefits of applying scientific analyses and/or new methods (techniques) in practice.
A more detailed description of the aims of the ALMA conference and the 2nd CrysAC workshop follows:

PAINTING AS A STORY or PAINTING IN THE COURSE OF TIME

Every painting changes even after being painted. Significant changes affect its identity and authenticity. This conference will focus on interdisciplinary case studies on painted artworks*, which will present methodological novelties or unconventional research approaches and will accent the role of time-dependent processes affecting the quality, originality, authenticity and state of preservation of the object. All contributions have to relate to one of the following topics:

1) Degradation phenomena (processes of corrosion, weathering, chemical interactions, with particular attention given to those influencing durability and aesthetic quality of painted objects)
2) Unclear history: historical vs. analytical facts (how can analytical information complement, clarify, or dispute the literary evidence and how the „life story“ of each object can be understood by critical comparison of historical and analytical data and by proper distinguishing of original layers and later interventions; how can analytical approach help with dating, which can often be determined only through comparative studies of art techniques, materials availability and technological evolution)
3) Unclear future: conservation of modern and contemporary art (problems of durability and restoration/conservation of objects of modern and contemporary arts as one of the key questions of present days)
4) Symmetry in art.

*The term „painted artworks“ includes easel and panel paintings, wall paintings, polychrome statues, illuminated manuscripts, painted objects of applied arts (on any support) and all related/alternative technologies to paints, as, e.g., printing, dyeing, glazing etc.)