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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A Michelangelo in Tonawanda, NY?
Whether or not a small easel painting in Tonawanda, NY is a Michelangelo preparatory painting for the Pietà is the basis for a very contentious discussion. Its current owner, Martin Kober, claims that it is the painting that Michelangelo gave to Vittoria Colonna, referenced in one of her letters. His claim has been dismissed by… Read more
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Leonora Carrington dies at 94
Artist Leonora Carrington has died in Mexico City at age 94. Born in Britain but working in Mexico City, Carrington was a central figure among Surrealist artists and writers. Save the date (January 29, 2012–May 6, 2012) for LACMA’s exhibition In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States, which… Read more
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A hard-to-categorize museum
The New York Times has an interesting profile of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, which is unusual in its lack of clear mission but fascinating in the range of its holdings. It contains historic structures (a relocated lighthouse, a round barn, a steamboat); curiosities such as a 3,500-piece miniature circus; folk and early American art… Read more
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Hammer Museum announces new mobile app
UCLA’s Hammer Museum is the latest art institution to launch an app that helps you plan your visit and explore the museum’s permanent collection and current exhibitions. The app is free and available for iPhones (must have iOS 4 installed) and Android (Android 2.2 and higher) devices. Read more
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Yale offers free online access to digital images
Yale University announced it now allows free access to its ever-growing database of digital images of objects housed in the university’s museums, archives, and libraries. Discover Yale Digital Commons already hosts almost 260,000 digital images and records, with the goal of adding over 1.5 million. The interface allows cross-collection searching of Yale’s vast respositories, including the… Read more