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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Resnick Pavilion opens at LACMA
The Renzo Piano-designed pavilion at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will open to the public on October 2. Funded mainly from a $45 million gift from the philanthropists Stewart and Lynda Resnick, the 45,000 square foot space opens with three exhibitions: 1. Sculptures and vessels from Mesoamerican antiquity; 2. Two hundred years of… Read more
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Fisk University and Georgia O’Keeffe, continued
We mentioned last week that Fisk University in Nashville, in trying to alleviate financial woes, is attempting to use its Stieglitz Collection in revenue-generating ventures. In response, Fisk alumni and students are planning an on-campus vigil this evening to protest any removal of the Collection from university grounds. Meanwhile, the University is protesting a proposal… Read more
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Explaining and exploring photographic processes
If students are having a hard time distinguishing their autochrome from their photogram, here are three fantastic on-line resources that offer definitions and examples of photographic processes: Historic Photographs, from the British Library, is an on-line gallery tour of photography “in its formative years.” Exploring Photography, from the Victoria & Albert Museum, has a series… Read more
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Fisk University and Georgia O’Keeffe
We’ve reported in the past here and here (and more recently here) about Brandeis University’s attempts to close the Rose Art Museum and sell its permanent collection to help alleviate the university’s budget problems. Well, another university is in the news for similar actions. Fisk University in Nashville has been trying to sell works from,… Read more
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Library of Images From the Environment
LIFE (Library of Images From the Environment) database contains over 28000 high-resolution images from nature, including views of landscapes, plant and animal examples, as well as broader environmental issues like management and research. Hosted by the National Biological Information Infrastructure and the Center for Biological Informatics, the site is organized by subject (each with extensive… Read more