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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Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s “Historic Cities”
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Department of Geography and The Jewish National and University Library offer a fantastic website dedicated to “maps, literature, documents, books and other relevant material concerning the past, present and future of historic cities”. The site is searchable by area, mapmaker or year, and each image can be viewed in high… Read more
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“Soundsuit” exhibition at the Fowler Museum
A fantastic exhibit is opening this weekend at the Fowler Museum at UCLA (Jan. 10 to May 30). Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth includes 35 multimedia costumes/soundsuits designed by artist/dancer/costume designer Nick Cave (not the Australian singer!). We saw this show in San Francisco and it’s really terrific. You… Read more
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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