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
-
Los Angeles Art Show: January 14-18, 2015
It’s that time of year again to mark your calendars for the Annual Los Angeles Art Show! This year’s show will be held January 14-28, 2015 at the LA Convention Center, South Hall J and K. This mark’s the Art Show’s 20th Anniversary and they’ve both added dates and scaled down the experience to two… Read more
-
Places Journal launches new website
Places Journal, dedicated to public scholarship on architecture, landscape and urbanism, has a new responsive website. Browsing the Explore Places tab yields sections grouped by columnists or keywords such as Reputations, California, Ecology, Sustainability, Critical Practice and many others. h/t SAH Read more
-
Sistine Chapel rented for corporate event
Yes, you read that right. The Sistine Chapel can be rented out for select corporate charity events as a part of Pope Francis’ “Art for Charity” initiative. The first takers: Porsche. On Saturday, October 18, 2014, forty of the car maker’s enthusiasts paid $5,900 per head to be among the first group of people treated… Read more
-
Open Access Program coming to Davidson Library
Open Access Week — October 20-30 — is an annual global event, promoting open access as a new norm in research and scholarship and to raise awareness of trends in scholarly communication and publishing. The program at UCSB will include these events: Generation Open Webcast & Pizza Party, Monday, October 20, 12pm Graduate students are… Read more
-
Screening of “Art & Craft” on Oct. 15
Art and Craft is a documentary about prolific art forger Mark Landis, an odd duck in the world of forgery as he is not in it for the money. The film screens on Wed., Oct. 15 only, at 5:00 and 7:30pm at the Plaza de Oro cinema (map). Read about the film here, and the… Read more
-
Images of Africa exhibition now at UCSB Library Special Collections
Images of Africa, curated by David C. Tambo (retired Head of Special Collections) and Edward Fields (Special Collections Reading Room Manager and IS Supervisor), is on view in Davidson Library’s Special Collections (Third Floor) through January 2015. The exhibition showcases maps from as early as the 17th century, photograph collections dating to the latter 19th… Read more