The Red Dot takes its name from the small sticker that once marked slides in a physical archive, flagging them as worth a second look. We’re keeping that spirit alive here.
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.
The Red Dot © 2025 is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
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Have you visited Flickr Commons lately?
Just last month we reported that the British Library had posted more than a million images on Flickr Commons. But did you know that more than 75 libraries, archives, and museums participate in Flickr Commons by posting objects from their photography archives with no known copyright restrictions. This has translated to over 1.25 million images to… Read more
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Francis Bacon triptych buyer revealed
In case you’re dying of curiousity about who bought the Francis Bacon triptych for a record-breaking $142.4 million at the Christie’s auction in November (as reported here at the Red Dot), it has been revealed. The New York Times reported that is was Elaine Wynn, ex-wife of casino owner Steve Wynn. And in case you’d… Read more
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Updates on Detroit Bankruptcy and the fate of the DIA collection
We’ve reported here on Detroit’s financial woes and subsequent argument centered on the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA)’s collection-as-liquid-asset. Two updates to this story include the judicial ruling on the city’s ability to file for bankruptcy and the “value” of the collection after an extensive evaluation by Christie’s. The latest DIA reports indicate wide support… Read more
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Mapping the Movement of Looted Books with Viewshare
In a post from the Library of Congress’s blog The Signal, Mitch Fraas (Scholar in Residence at the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania and Acting Director, Penn Digital Humanities Forum) discusses the use of Viewshare for mapping library book markings. In particular, Frass highlights a project at UPenn that seeks… Read more
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Another Google Art initiative
Google has recently unveiled Google Open Gallery, created as part of the Google Cultural Institute. It allows users to create online exhibitions, in the manner of Omeka. It is targeted at museums and galleries, and has already partnered with the Getty and LACMA; however some of the sample galleries on their site have been created… Read more
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British Library releases over a million images on Flickr
Dubbing it “a million first steps,” the British Library announced they’ve posted over 1,000,000 images (1,019,991 to be precise) on their Flickr Commons account. As per the press release, these images are “for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. These images were taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books digitised by Microsoft… Read more