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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Rose Art Museum and Brandeis University: The Conclusion
Over the years here at The Red Dot we’ve followed the economic tug-of-war between Brandeis University and its Rose Art Museum. It appears that the war is now over and thankfully the Rose emerges the victor. Brandeis University has posted on its website that the suit between four museum supporters and the university — who… Read more
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Latest images and agreements from ARTstor
ARTstor’s Digital Library now has these collections available: Shangri La, Honolulu, Hawaii (Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art): 400 images of Islamic and South Asian art from the collection at Shangri La, the former home of Doris Duke (1912-1993) [1/2 of the projected 800] Yao Ceremonial Artifacts Collection (Ohio University): 3,714 art works and objects created… Read more
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BBC hosts Your Paintings website
The BBC, in partnership with the Public Catalogue Foundation and public museums and collections, has launched the website Your Paintings, which “aims to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings, the stories behind the paintings, and where to see them for real.” The site is searchable by artist last name and subject matter.… Read more
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Firefox 5 users with no access to ARTstor, updated
UPDATE (28 June): After searching, saving and downloading tests in ARTstor, it appears that they have fixed the compatibility issue with Firefox 5. If you are a PC user with Firefox as your default browser, you may be prompted (sometimes rather urgently) to upgrade to Firefox 5. Unfortunately, at this time ARTstor is not compatible… Read more
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Update on Picasso trove, part 2: Charges are filed
We reported in December here and here that a dispute had developed over a collection of works by Pablo Picasso that had been discovered with the artist’s former electrician. The latest news is that seventy-one-year-old Pierre Le Guennec and his wife have been formally charged with stashing the 271 “stolen” Picasso artworks at their home.… Read more
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New Geotagging application: Zeitag
A terrific new iPhone/iPad app called Zeitag marries Geotagging, Google Maps and Toronto City Archives to show sites and buildings as they have looked like in the past. The creator has included archival info in the captions, and images from several eras of given sites when available. This app is the first in… Read more