The Red Dot takes its name from the small sticker that once marked slides in a physical archive, flagging them as worth a second look. We’re keeping that spirit alive here.
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.
The Red Dot © 2025 is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
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You, too, can be a patron of the arts
Following the model of other micro loan ventures, Kickstarter.com is a site where artists propose projects and everyone can contribute to their funding. Project descriptions are posted on the site, outlining the goals, medium, budget and time frame. Anyone can make a financial contribution, for any amount. According to their website more than half the… Read more
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Image Resource Center Open House
If you’re in the area today and haven’t seen our new space (or even if you have), please stop for our Open House. We’re in Ellison Hall on the ground floor – through the red doors beside the elevator. Refreshments will be served! Thursday, October 14 – 1:00-4:00pm Read more
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Survey: architects on architecture
Vanity Fair magazine recently conducted a survey of 52 architects and architecture critics and scholars, asking them to list the five most important structures (including buildings, bridge and monuments) built since 1980, and to name the most significant architectural work of the 21st century. All participants and their choices are listed here. A slideshow… Read more
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Photographs revealed of Tibet 100 years ago
An album of extremely rare photographs of Tibet and its people, taken during a 1903 British mission, has both been publicized for the first time and auctioned off. The amazing photos were taken by Officer John Claude White and are the first known of their kind. Read or listen to an NPR interview by Renee… Read more
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Get out your metal detectors!
A lucky person with a metal detector uncovered a Roman helmet last year, which is now going up for auction at Christie’s (on Oct. 7). It’s expected to fetch between $315,000 and $470,000. It is one of only three of its caliber and design (with complete face masks) ever discovered in England. It was found… Read more
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Uffizi masterpieces in high resolution
An Italian company, Haltadefinizione, has created what they call “real high resolution” reproductions of six famous paintings from the Florentine museum. If you’re wondering just how high resolution these are, the company photographed the six paintings at 3 to 20 billion pixels (yes, billion). However, while their tagline reads “If you can’t come to them,… Read more