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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Forge Project Announces 2026 Fellowship Open Call
Forge Project, a Native-led nonprofit organization on the unceded homelands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck in Upstate New York, is pleased to announce its open call for applications for its 2026 funded fellowship program for Indigenous artists, scholars, organizers, cultural workers, researchers, and educators. The application is live and the 2026 application period will end on Sunday,… Read more
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Carpentries Instructor Training (January 14-15, January 27-30, February 3-6, February 9-12 , March 17-20)
Passionate about teaching? Become a Certified Carpentries Instructor! The Carpentries is an international organization that trains and supports volunteers to teach foundational coding and data science skills to researchers. Becoming a Certified Carpentries Instructor offers professional development by building valuable, evidence-based teaching skills. You’ll gain hands-on practice, join a vast international community, and enhance local… Read more
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Carpentry @ UCSB Workshops, Winter 2026
Announcing the lineup of workshops for the Winter quarter: Geospatial Data Carpentry with R: January 5-9, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm / Zoom and UCSB Library (Room 2509) Master geospatial analysis in R in this four-day workshop. We will cover R basics, working with raster and vector data, and performing essential GIS operations. Join us… Read more
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Athens Photo Research Center
The newly established Athens Photo Research Center is an institution for contemporary photography and visual culture. Conceived as a space where images become conversations, boundaries dissolve, and artistic inquiry takes shape, APhRC is rooted in Athens and connected internationally. It brings together education, practice-based research, and a community-driven spirit and serves as a meeting point… Read more
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Fall of Freedom: Art Matters, Courage is Contagious
https://www.falloffreedom.com Fall of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation. Our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising. Dissent is being criminalized. Institutions and media have been recast as mouthpieces of propaganda. This Fall, we are activating a nationwide wave of… Read more
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Call for Book Chapter Proposals: “Reimagining the Medieval and Early Modern World: 3-D Technologies and Art History”
This edited volume explores the role of 3-D technologies in the study, teaching, and preservation of medieval and early modern art and architecture. It considers how tools such as photogrammetry, LiDAR, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and related digital methods are reshaping the ways we access, interpret, and engage with the cultural heritage of… Read more