La IASS/AIS
International Association for Semiotic Studies (Association Internationale de Sémiotique, or IASS-AIS) is the major world organisation of semioticians.
It was established in 1969 and the founding members include distinguished semioticians like Algirdas Julien Greimas, Roman Jakobson, Julia Kristeva, Emile Benveniste, André Martinet, Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, Thomas A. Sebeok, and Juri Lotman.
The IASS-AIS has more than 1,500 individual members in 65 countries, and combined with the members of the Collective Members (international and multinational associations dealing with the semiotics of particular topics, national semiotics associations, regional groups, research centers, research groups, circles, university institutes) the Association represents several thousands of semioticians who are organized all over the world.
Presidents of the Association were Emile Benveniste, Cesare Segre, Jerzy Pelc, Roland Posner. Current President since 2004 is Eero Tarasti.
The Association is regularly organising the World Congresses in Semiotics:
1. Milan, Italy, June 2–6, 1974 (A Semiotic Landscape)
2. Vienna, Austria, July 2–6, 1979 (Semiotics Unfolding)
3. Palermo, Italy, June 24–29, 1984 (Semiotic Theory and Practice)
4. Barcelona, Spain, and Perpignan, France, March 31 – April 4, 1989 (Signs of Humanity/L’homme et ses signes)
5. Berkeley, USA, June 12–18, 1994 (Signs of the World. Synthesis in Diversity)
6. Guadalajara, Mexico, July 13–18, 1997 (Semiotics Bridging Nature and Culture/La sémiotique: carrefour de la nature et de la culture/La semiotica. Intersección de la naturaleza y de la cultura)
7. Dresden, Germany, October 6–11, 1999 (Sign Processes in Complex Systems/Zeichenprozesse in komplexen Systemen)
8. Lyon, France, July 7–12, 2004 (Signes du monde. Interculturalité et globalisation / Signs of the World. Interculturality and Globalization / Zeichen der Welt: Interkulturalität und Globalisierung / Los signos del mundo: Interculturalidad y Globalización)
9. Helsinki and Imatra, Finland, June 11–17, 2007 (Understanding/Misunderstanding)
10. La Coruña, Spain, September 22–26, 2009 (Culture of Communication/Communication of Culture)
11. Nanjing, China, October 5–9, 2012 (Global Semiotics: Bridging Different Civilizations)
12. Sofia, Bulgaria, 16-20 September, 2014 (New Semiotics: Between Tradition and Innovation)