Named after the small red sticker that once guided scholars through legacy 35mm slides, The Red Dot is here to help you navigate the ever-evolving landscape of visual and material research. While rooted in the University of California, Santa Barbara community, our posts are open to all.
At MIRL, we engage with art history, digital humanities, and material culture through hands-on research and archival projects. Guided by our core principles—critical engagement with visual and material culture, ethical stewardship of images and data, and innovative approaches to research and pedagogy—we work at the intersection of technology and the humanities. We are especially interested in how digital tools can expand the study of images, objects, and spaces.
Here, we’ll share insights on Digital Art History and Architectural History, highlight new image and data resources, discuss copyright and ethical considerations, and spotlight events that shape our field.
The Red Dot © 2025 is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
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Prado’s entire Goya collection now available online
The Museo Nacional del Prado has launched a new website dedicated to beautiful digital images of their entire collection of works and documents by and about Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. Goya en el Prado (available only in Spanish) is divided by medium, then subject, and entries for a few paintings offer supplemental technical… Read more
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Does art still have the ability to shock us?
There’s an interesting multi-part discussion going on in the New York Times about whether art (visual, performance, theater, film, writing, music) can still shock us. Articles revisit some historic events such as the premiere of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” and the public funding battles in the 1990s over controversial art (such as Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs… Read more
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Palm Springs Modernism Week and Docomomo US Tour Day
Palm Springs Modernism Week isn’t until 2013 (February 14-24, 2013, to be exact), but organizers are offering “an early taste” of the annual event when they announced they’re joining in the 6th Annual Docomomo US Tour Day Saturday, October 6, 2012. In fact, Modernism Week is holding four days of events the weekend of October… Read more
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ARTstor to add thousands of works by contemporary artists
Good news: ARTstor announced a new Online Art Agreement (OLA) has been signed with Artists Rights Society (ARS) on behalf of six international affiliates. This will translate into the addition of more than 10,000 modern and contemporary artists from Australia, Canada, Austria, Finland, Mexico and Brazil. No word yet on when this will happen, so… Read more
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UPDATE: Wrong restoration now right?
What began as a lament for what was has become a celebration of what is: the amateur restoration of Elias Garcia Martinez’ “Ecce Homo” by a elderly woman now has fans all over the world. Just check out the Beast-Jesus Restoration Society Facebook page (with a petition link to save the restoration from being restored). Read more
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ARTstor mobile for Android, iPhone and iPad
You can now access the entire ARTstor library of over 1.4 million images anywhere you get internet service through your Apple or Android mobile device.Which means you can use that time in the supermarket line much more productively. via the ARTstor blog Read more