Meson Spectroscopy at CLAS and CLAS12: the present and the future

Mesons are the simplest quark bound system, being made by a quark and an anti-quark pair. Studying their structure and properties is a fundamental step to reach a deep understanding of QCD. For this purpose both the precise determination of the meson spectrum for conventional states and the search for states beyond the simple q (q) over bar configurations, as hybrids (qqg) or glueballs, are needed. Finding evidence for these unconventional states would help in understanding some of the open issues in hadronic physics, as how the quarks are confined within hadrons and what is the role of gluons. These topics are presently studied with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab and will be studied with the novel CLAS12 experiment after the 12 GeV upgrade of the facility. In my talk I will present the physics program that is presently in progress and the future perspectives.