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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The VRC’s new home and new name
As of today, August 2, the entire History of Art & Architecture Dept., including the Visual Resources Collection, has been relocated to Ellison Hall. The VRC is still in the middle of what is a very big move, but hopefully by tomorrow the unpacking and settling in can start. New location = new beginnings =… Read more
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The VRC move has begun!
Beginning at 8:30 this morning the movers started taking out the remaining slide cabinets and light tables and many, many boxes. We’re moving over to a new, temporary home at Ellison Hall. Details on our new space and contact info forthcoming, along with more pictures of this gargantuan move. Read more
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MAK Center Tour 2010: Happy Birthday, Julius Shulman
The MAK Center in Los Angeles has released more details about their upcoming Fall architectural tour scheduled for Sunday, 10 October. This year’s tour celebrates the 100th birthday of architectural photographer Julius Shulman. The buildings include Lovell Health House (1929), the Kun House (1936), the Gold House (1945), the Hillside House (1948), the Shulman House… Read more
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Europeana, an online portal to European culture
Europeana.eu allows you to search through dozens of cultural collections of Europe, including national archives, libraries, museums and other research centers. Simple or advanced searches return digitized texts, images, videos and/or sounds. Each item contains information as well as a link to the “original context” — its page within the originating organization. One great feature… Read more
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Vatican to display late works by Henri Matisse
In an effort to increase visibility of modern and contemporary works of art in their collection, the Vatican Museums is preparing a new room devoted to sacred art by Henri Matisse. The new space will house designs, three large-scale preparatory drawings and numerous objects the artist created in 1948-1951 for a small Dominican chapel (Chappelle… Read more
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California architecture news, north and south
Any thoughts on what Los Angeles could/will look like in 20 years? Newsweek put the question to three architectural firms who came up with 2030 concepts for both LA and New York in a feature called The Future of Work. The three firms that participated were Michael Maltzan Architecture, cityLAB UCLA and Gensler. In other… Read more