About

The Material / Image Research Lab is dedicated to the exploration of the dynamic interplay between digital images and emergent digital technologies, and analogue art objects and related materials. We look to advance knowledge and foster a deep understanding of the evolving relationship between the virtual and the tangible in the fields of art history and architecture.

We also provide image and technology support for the UCSB community, and offer assistance with image management and research tools, access to instructional and research media including extensive digital image resources, and assistance with image-focused technology.

The lab includes digitizing equipment for 2-dimensional and 3-dimensial objects, a seminar room with an interactive digital projector, and a large workshop room designed for exploring physical art objects and artefacts. We host regular talks and workshops on innovative image technology applications and related Digital Humanities topics. MIRL also collaborates with other UC campuses through the UC Library Common Knowledge Group (CKG) initiative and the California Digital Library (CDL).

The facility

The seminar room can accommodate up to 30 people for discussions, online meetings, review sessions, and object-based research. It offers flexible seating and work surfaces, two dedicated workstations, a 55” monitor, interactive projection, a flatbed scanner and a slide scanner. There is extensive wall space with panels that allow material pinning or hanging, and movable shelves, all designed for display or discussion. The room is also home to a small reference library containing survey texts and books commonly used in HAA courses.

The main room has been designed to support museum studies, architectural history, and other courses focused on learning through the study of materials. The room accommodates up to 30 people, with ample mobile surfaces and shelving for display. There is an adjoining temperature-controlled, secure room for safe storage of borrowed materials, and both spaces are monitored by security cameras and alarms. In addition to flexible seating and work surfaces, it is home to two workstations, a book scanner, a slide scanner, a 3-D scanner, and a flatbed scanner.

MIRL is also home to a nascent materials and pigment library. Contact us to inquire about the materials already in the library, to borrow materials for on-campus use, or to request materials to add to the collection.

MIRL was once home to over 400,000 35mm slides used for classroom teaching. Over the last 20 years most of the slides have been removed during our transition to digital teaching and collection building. We still maintain a small collection of archival slides, primarily original photography by and from our department’s scholars and their colleagues. Over time these slides are being systematically documented, digitized and shared online. You can view our digital collection on JSTOR.

Object-based learning and research

Our facility was designed to support art history, museum studies, architectural history, and other courses focused on learning through the study of materials. We are currently partnered with UCSB’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum (AD&A), and we facilitate the borrowing of objects from both the architecture and design collection and the art collection, for research and pedagogical purposes.

If you would like to book the space for teaching with objects, use the Object Request Form and we will get in touch with you. Please do submit your requests four weeks prior to the start of quarter, to ensure we can arrange the loan from the AD&A museum. We are currently in the process of expanding our borrowing capabilities to include other institutions. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Room reservations

If you are interested in reserving space or a scanning station, please use the Room Reservation form to review department policies and to submit a request. For more information about space or equipment booking, please contact Christine Fritsch at cfritsch@ucsb.edu or (805) 893-7403.

Resources

We are the primary campus resource for image research and use. The main gateway to instructional and research media is JSTOR, which includes all Artstor holdings and Artstor functionality, and more. JSTOR now integrates access to both text and media resources.

MIRL also licenses JSTOR Forum, which supports digital media management, and sharing via JSTOR and other platforms. Please reach out to us if you are interested in learning more about JSTOR, or JSTOR Forum.

Internships

We are happy to host interns on a regular basis, usually up to two interns per quarter. We try to always have one intern actively working on the Chumash Modern and Contemporary art archive. The internship, ARTHI 192C, is typically for one or two academic units. Please contact Jeff O’Brien for more information. Also see the History of Art & Architecture department’s internship page.

Guiding research questions

Our research at MIRL is informed by a series of overarching questions. These include:

  • how do digital technologies bring forth new visibilities and new ways of seeing? how do new digital tools help us form new, emergent methodologies within the discipline?
  • how can we use digital tools to query and form spatial and/or architectural dimensions that are previously unexamined or otherwise invisible?
  • how do we use these tools for good within the disciplines of art history and architecture—especially in our age of emergent artificial intelligent systems? 
  • what constitutes an image today, and how has our conception of an image changed in the past 20 years with the move from analogue to digital?
  • how do new image-based technologies and methods both reveal and occlude certain populations, both in terms of image-making and access to these new technologies?
  • what is a decolonial image? and what is an image of decolonization?
  • how can an image mark time in the epoch of the Anthropocene? How can we learn to see images through time?
  • how can we use digital tools to locate and examine the intersection of materiality and the image? how has this shifted as we become more digital? is there a return to material?

Giving

The generosity of our alumni, parents, and friends is crucial to the History of Art & Architecture Department. Your support helps fund scholarship, research, and program initiatives that enhance our curricular offerings. Whether through unrestricted gifts or contributions to specific priorities, your investment has a profound impact on our graduate and undergraduate students. 

We invite you to make a gift online through our secure giving website.

For questions about customized opportunities or other kinds of giving, such as donor-advised funds, gifts of stock, establishing an endowment, or making an estate gift, please contact Dana Loughlin, Sr. Director of Development, Humanities and Fine Arts:

(805) 893-3922 | danaloughlin@ucsb.edu

We look forward to partnering with you to achieve your philanthropic goals. Thank you for supporting the History of Art & Architecture Department.