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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Can AI Truly Give Us a Glimpse of Lost Masterpieces?
Recent projects used machine learning to resurrect paintings by Klimt and Rembrandt. They raise questions about what computers can understand about art. In 1945, fire claimed three of Gustav Klimt’s most controversial paintings. Commissioned in 1894 for the University of Vienna, “the Faculty Paintings”—as they became known—were unlike any of the Austrian symbolist’s previous work.… Read more
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DH Monday: Conference CFP – DH Unbound 2022 (online / May 17-19, 2022)
Call for Papers – DH Unbound 2022 in English, Spanish, or French. Submit your proposal by January 15, 2022. Reviving a collaboration that began with the Joint CSDH/SCHN and ACH Conference in 2015, DH Unbound 2022 (May 17-19, 2022) facilitates connections between ACH, CSDH/SCHN, and other organizations sharing our commitment to creating virtual and hybrid… Read more
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New Online Resource: Vasari Diagram – Open Access Web Interface to Reveal Wikipedia Networks of Old Masters
Just launched: The web interface “Vasari Diagram” – an open access tool for data visualization, designed to make accessible and easy to study the networks and semantic connections of old masters in Wikipedia. Painters are not only present in Wikipedia by their own pages but also by numerous other pages, referring to them. Who mentions… Read more
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DH Monday: 2022-2023 Getty Research Institute Graduate Internship: Director’s Office, Research Projects and Programs (Digital Art History)
The Getty Research Institute (GRI) is dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts and their various histories through its expertise, active collecting program, public programs, institutional collaborations, exhibitions, publications, digital services, and residential scholars’ programs. Its Research Library and Special Collections of rare materials and digital resources serve an international community… Read more
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Google Arts & Culture Opens Free Virtual Exhibition About Brasília
After launching virtual exhibitions about Parma (Italy), Pittsburgh and Milwaukee (United States), and Lagos (Nigeria), the online platform Google Arts & Culture has opened the virtual exhibition Brasília: um Sonho Construído (Brasilia: A Dream Built), which presents an immersive tour of the Brazilian federal capital designed by Lúcio Costa. Curated by the National Museum of… Read more
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DH Monday: CFP: Translating Home: Views From the Diaspora
12th Annual Art History Graduate Student Symposium: “Translating Home: Views From the Diaspora” (online / April 22–23, 2022) Submission Deadline: January 23, 2022 Organized by the Rutgers University Art History Graduate Student Organization (AHGSO) The concept of home is unstable, bearing countless interpretations of physical and abstract places. Diasporic and transnational identities are particularly susceptible… Read more