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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How to read a Chinese handscroll painting
The newly-appointed Curator of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Maxwell Hearn, discusses the intimate relationship between object and viewer with a 14th century Chinese handscroll painting in this video from the New York Times. For other videos from the museum, see their YouTube Channel. Read more
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New ARTstor images available
The ARTstor Digital Library has just announced these images are now available: ART on FILE: 1,100 images of contemporary architecture in the United Arab Emirates, which brings the final total to 11,743 views of contemporary architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and public art from around the world Islamic Art and Architecture Collection: 250 images of… Read more
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Experiencing the earthquake in Toyo Ito’s Mediatheque in Sendai
Culture Monster has posted a video someone took during Friday’s earthquake while braving it out under a desk in Mediatheque cultural center in Sendai. As Christopher Hawthorne points out, both the length of the quake and the sway of the building are amazing to watch, especially since the structure seems to survive roughly intact. Read more
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Leo Steinberg, 1920-2011
Art historian Leo Steinberg died on Sunday. A scholar and art critic specializing in artists of the Italian Renaissance, he also wrote extensively on 20th century art. Read the full New York Times obituary here. Read more
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Rare Book Room showcases great books of the world
The website Rare Book Room offers a wide variety of books digitized by a company called Octavo (it is unclear whether they are still in business). Octavo digitally photographed a selection of books–about 400–from some of the world’s greatest libraries at medium/high resolution (in some cases at over 200 megabytes per page). Users can browse… Read more
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Friday Fun: Name that painter
In anticipation of finals, or a diversion therefrom, try this online quiz that requires you to name the painters of important works of art. The quiz makers were kind enough to give a couple of examples for most artists to help you out. Answers can be found here. Read more