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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LA Arts Month starts
LA Arts Month kicks off this week. There’s a packed schedule of special film screenings, lectures, dance and music performances, gallery openings, workshops, and more. To read more and see the schedule of events, go to their site. image at right is from LACMA’s “HEROES & VILLAINS: The Battle for Good in Indian’s Comics” Read more
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Rummaging up Baroque relics
Italian anthropologists have been searching for the remains of the Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio–who, after a contentious life, died in 1610–and have narrowed the search to an underground crypt in Porto Ercole. After sorting through roughly 40 sets of remains, and by means of carbon dating, CAT scans and DNA analysis, scientists believe they have… Read more
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Claremont Museum of Art closing
Claremont Museum of Art will close its doors 27 December after the Board of Directors voted to discontinue operations. Fundraising had begun in earnest to raise donations for the 2010 operating budget but was ultimately unsuccessful. The plan is to close, “restructure and rebuild”. via the LA Times blog Culture Monster Read more
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Photographer Larry Sultan has died
Larry Sultan, the photographer who focused on Southern California, has died. His work frequently examined suburban life in San Fernando Valley, particularly the adult film industry there. Mr. Sultan received his BA (in Political Science) from UCSB. Read the LA Times obituary here. Read more
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LACMA overhaul revived
An overhaul of the LA County Museum of Art complex is again on the table. After the failure to get a 2/3 majority vote on a 2002 bond measure that would have paid for a Rem Koolhaus re-design, dreams of a vast renovation were put on hold. But now the LACMA board is working with… Read more
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Former MMA director Thomas Hoving has died
Thomas Hoving, the former director (1967-77) of the Metropolitan Museum of Art has died. He transformed the museum by, among other things, introducing the “blockbuster” show. The King Tut exhibit was the first of such shows, now a staple in museum exhibition calendars. Mr. Hoving was only 35 when he took over as the director… Read more