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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Artstor launches over 35,000 images by Andy Warhol
Artstor announced The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has now made available more than 35,000* images in the Artstor Digital Library. These two extensive collections – Warhol’s Oeuvre and Photographic Legacy Project – provide a thorough presentation of Warhol’s works for the first time, including more than 34,000 original Andy Warhol photographs as well as paintings,… Read more
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CAA Arts and Humanities Advocacy Toolkit
As we reported in January, the College Art Association released a statement condemning the proposed budget cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among other federal agencies. Now they’ve created an Advocacy Toolkit “to help our members and anyone who wants to advocate for the arts and… Read more
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Getty’s first online exhibition preserves Palmyra
The Getty Research Institute‘s inaugural digital exhibition, The Legacy of Ancient Palmyra, was developed “as a tribute to Palmyra” with images by traveling artists and explorers who documented the site in former states of preservation. “Their works contribute to Palmyra’s legacy, one that goes far beyond the stones of its once great buildings.” There are… Read more
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The Davis Museum’s statement on the immigration ban
In a comment on the current White House administration’s policies on immigration, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College has removed or covered all art in the galleries that was created by immigrants. The initiative is called Art-Less and is meant to illustrate the creative contributions made by immigrants to the US. Labels describing each piece… Read more
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Library of Congress digitizes rare books from the Rosenwald Collection
The Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress has an active digitization program, sharing thousands of its treasures online for users all over the world. Their most recent announcement highlights digital additions to the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection. The Rosenwald Collection’s greatest strengths are in the fifteenth century woodcut books, early… Read more
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The Met implements an image Open Access policy
The Metropolitan Museum of Art took to Facebook Live today to announce their new Open Access policy, which makes images of artworks it believes to be in the public domain widely and freely available for unrestricted use, and at no cost, in accordance with the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation and the Terms and Conditions… Read more