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
-
$134 million worth of stolen art dumped in the trash?
It is feared that 5 paintings stolen from the Paris Museum of Modern Art last May were thrown into the trash by one of the thieves. The paintings, by Picasso, Matisse, Leger, Braque and Modigliani, were left in the possession of one of the three people involved in the heist, who claims he panicked when… Read more
-
Walters Art Museum expands online collection
The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore currently offers one third of its collection — over 10,000 works — in digital form and without copyright restrictions when used for educational purposes. The high resolution images are perfect for PowerPoint presentations or you can “explore” an object in detail with the site’s zoom feature. In addition, many… Read more
-
European Film Gateway available online
European Film Gateway (EFG) is a web portal to selected archival material held in European film archives. EFG contains over 26,500 videos, 500,000 still images and 15,000 texts on filmmaking and film-related issues in Europe from the early days until today. You can browse by collection or search for specific videos or images. Most object… Read more
-
Frick Art Library Photoarchive digitization project
The Frick Art Reference Library is continually expanding the online profile of its Photoarchive — a study collection of more than one million photographs and other reproductions. While they are actively seeking digital images from museums and independent researchers, the Photoarchive has contributed almost 25,000 digital images to ARTstor. Read more
-
Viewing the Dead Sea Scrolls in digital detail
Partners Google and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem have launched a new website to closely examine the Dead Sea Scrolls. Not to panic if you don’t read Hebrew — the site offers English translations of the Great Isaiah Scroll in two ways: either read a dual translation here or click on a specific passage while… Read more
-
Eames living room moved to LACMA
The living room from Charles and Ray Eames’ iconic house has been meticulously taken apart and re-assembled at LACMA, as part of the exhibition California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way”. The LA Times has a great back story, plus a timelapse video of the disassembling of the living room. It had remained preserved… Read more