MIRL, the Material / Image Research Lab, is the research and teaching lab of the Department of History of Art & Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Our internships place students on live projects, working alongside faculty and staff. Your contributions are credited. You may apply to one or more, and you may propose a project of your own. THE INTERNSHIPS
California Native American Modern Art Archive. A post-custodial digital repository documenting modern and contemporary California Native artists. Artists keep possession of their work and control how it is represented, described, and shared. Interns document artworks, create metadata under consent-based protocols, practice ethical description guided by UNDRIP and Indigenous archival models, and support curation toward public access via JSTOR. Sensitivity to Indigenous cultural protocols is essential.
Eleven Days: A Counter-Archive of Land, Disaster, and Displacement in Mediterranean Santa Barbara. Eleven days after the 1925 earthquake, the City Council established the Architectural Board of Review: the Mediterranean city was not a recovery, it was a decision. Using forensic architecture methods, interns investigate what was built, erased, and suppressed, toward a public exhibition. They survey sites in downtown Santa Barbara, trace culverted creek corridors, and research UCSB Special Collections, the Presidio Research Center, and City planning files. QGIS, archival research, and close visual analysis are valued. This internship begins Winter 2027.
MIRL Tools. Free, open, browser-based instruments for studying, documenting, and defending cultural heritage, which run with no accounts and keep data local. Interns run 3D analysis on object scans, test tools and document bugs, contribute to design, and help write documentation. Technical comfort helps; critical thinking is essential.
Curatorial internship. An apprenticeship in curatorial practice, working directly with the MIRL curator across all of MIRL’s projects, including those listed above. Interns support object-based teaching and care for MIRL’s collections: they prepare class sessions with objects, write condition notes, inventory the teaching collection and the materials and pigment library, and organize and document MIRL’s records and events. The work varies with what MIRL has underway in a given quarter. Careful handling, attention to detail, and flexibility matter most. You may start in any quarter.
Other. If your idea fits none of these, tell us what you would do, what you would produce, and what you would need from MIRL.
The AD&A Museum / MIRL digitization internship is full for 2026-27. Write to us about the next cycle.
HOW IT WORKS
Interns work in person at MIRL, Arts Building 1245, in 3-hour blocks. Credit is Pass / No Pass only, at 30 hours per quarter for each unit, up to 4 units per quarter and 12 in total across ARTHI 192A to 192E. Up to 4 units may count toward the Museum Studies emphasis or minor.
APPLYING
Please apply at least two months before the quarter you hope to start. The form has four parts: about you, the internship you want, your technical skills, and a short statement. No experience is required in any one area. We ask so we can match you to the right project. We will reply to the email address you give.
Questions: Dr. Jeff O’Brien, jeffobrien@ucsb.edu.
