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
-
Upcoming Artstor Digital Library Feature Changes
Artstor has announced they will make changes to current features in the Digital Library with a new release this summer that includes an improved platform with a redesigned interface and streamlined features. They will retire a number of personal uploads such as notes, citations, and saved searches, so visit here to learn how to save… Read more
-
An in-depth way to explore the Garden of Earthly Delights
It’s been available for awhile, but we recently discovered this amazing interactive tool and wanted to promote it. The Prado Museum developed an “audio-visual journey” of Heironymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, which can be explored through a variety of means. You can watch the full documentary, take a tour, or explore on your… Read more
-
Bard Graduate Center exhibition installation images now in Artstor
Artstor announced that the Bard Graduate Center has released 2,500 images of exhibitions installed in their Gallery. The Bard Graduate Center is an academic unit of Bard College that offers advanced degrees in decorative arts, design history, and material culture and the Gallery is an intimate environment for viewing loan exhibitions curated by the Center’s… Read more
-
Houses of Parliament virtual tour
Explore some of the most famous rooms in Parliament and learn more about its fascinating history and present day use. The tour will be part of Google Maps, alongside similar experiences for Buckingham Palace and the White House. Anyone with a virtual reality headset will be able to get an even more immersive experience. via The Guardian Read more
-
Slow Art Day: Saturday, April 8, 2017
Slow Art Day, a global event to stop and savor works of art, will take place on Saturday, April 8. This is how it works: Sign up at a participating museum or art gallery. Locally, you can join in at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB) and the Hammer Museum, UCLA. Attend and… Read more
-
Rijksstudio award finalists
For the last three years the Rijksmuseum has solicited design contributions inspired by the museum collection. Members of the public can download images and submit their creations, which you can now vote on (until April 20). Visit the Rijksstudio site to see the 10 wonderful finalists, and cast your vote. Read more