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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President Erdogan vows Hagia Sophia will become a mosque again
The Turkish president wants the monument to serve as a place of worship flouting international pressure to retain the site’s current neutral status. Among other issues related to the museum’s potential reversal, it could “endanger its World Heritage status: Hagia Sophia is inscribed on Unesco’s list with other sites on Istanbul’s historic peninsula, and any… Read more
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The stuff in museum basements
The New York Times had a fascinating report on all the ‘stuff’ in museum storage that never gets put on display, and is often of very low value or interest. Much of this is due to gifts from donors that come with restrictive agreements, causing a tenfold collection expansion at some institutions in the last… Read more
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All the UK’s 150,000 public sculptures to go online
The first 1,000 of Britain’s 150,000 publicly-owned sculptures have been published this week thanks to a project organized by Art UK. These works are global in nature and range in date from c. 1000 CE to modern times. The project includes photographing works that have yet to be been properly documented and the remaining works… Read more
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The Best Bauhaus Documentaries Available to Watch Online
via ArchDaily This year marks a century of Bauhaus. Despite dramatic shifts in technology, taste, and style in architecture in the years since, Bauhaus remains one of the most significant subjects of architectural/design education and has even captured the interest of the wider public. As part of their celebrations of the Bauhaus movement, the folks… Read more
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CA State Archives Digitizes The Alfred Eichler Collection
From the CA Sectretary of State press release: “For the first time, the California States Archives has digitized its entire collection of esteemed architect Alfred Eichler’s drawings, sketches, and watercolors. This collection of 431 images of his public project designs spans from 1925 to 1962. The complete collection is searchable and can be browsed on… Read more
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Take a 360-degree look around Buckingham Palace
Use the BBC News 360 video to walk through the palace’s rooms and discover some of the most treasured objects in the Royal Collection Trust. Read more