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 well do you see color?
Curious to know just how well you’re able to distinguish colors? Test your color acuity with this online color challenge, an abridged version of the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test. Offered by X-Rite, a company that specializes in color science and technology, the test “is used to separate persons with normal color vision into classes… Read more
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Reverse image searching with TinEye
TinEye is a clever new search engine that does reverse searching to help you find duplicates or better copies of an image. This means that you can upload the image you are looking for, or paste in the image URL, and it will find all other versions (duplicates and variations) of that image on the… Read more
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Berlin’s Free University launches “Degenerate Art” database
The “Degenerate Art” Research Center, Art History Institute at the Freie Universität Berlin now hosts a database that documents the fate of over 21,000 works of art deemed “Entartete Kunst” (Degenerate Art) and confiscated by the Nazis in 1937. The database is searchable by artist, title, object type, current repository and specific Nazi-era exhibitions. Many… Read more
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Art History and the movies
Several websites have compiled lists of films on art, or that feature art historical figures or themes. Here are just a few: The Ultimate Art History Guide to Cinema Art Historians’ Guide to the Movies Art History in the Movies Dr. Cheney’s Art History Films (includes links to video clips) A libris’ list of art… Read more
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Oakland Museum of CA “mixing it up”
After an extensive two-year renovation, the Oakland Museum of California will reopen its doors with a Weekend Celebration 1-2 May to show off the museum’s new, brighter galleries. They have also been redesigned so installations can be more conceptual — objects from history and natural science collections share spaces with works of art and design.… Read more
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Fallingwater in LEGO
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater has been replicated in LEGO blocks – 15,000 of them. It took the creator seven months to complete it. In other Wright-LEGO news, the LEGO company is introducing the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection, which includes instructions for building six of his iconic designs. These won’t take seven months or 15,000 blocks,… Read more