Centre Square and Mima

The Centre Square has plenty of benches, a lovely grass area, some fountains (which are usually fenced off but occasionally you can walk in them) and a large TV screen. The large screen usually just shows the news channel but does show special events like the Olympics, films, concerts etc.
There’s the large Bottle of Notes sculpture, a pretty pond (which often has ducks) and the library nearby too.
Teens/​students (usually the ‘alternative/​emo’ crowd) tend to hang around the Centre Square but they never seem like intimidating groups. Just watch out for the odd frisbee heading in your direction!
MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) is a free entry art gallery which has different exhibitions on throughout the year so it’s a place you can definitely visit more than once.
Unless there’s a school party inside, it’s generally a very quiet gallery, sometimes a little too quiet and I feel a bit awkward walking around on my own.
The gallery has three floors, although there’s not always an exhibition on each floor, it varies. There’s a large staircase to get to each floor, or a lift if you’re not a stair-​person.
They often have plenty of free leaflets about the art work on display, plus a small shop where you can buy various art-​related stuff.
There are a couple of seats around the gallery, but they also provide free fold-​up stools so you can sit and study the art for longer.
Overall, I would say it’s a great gallery, you can probably spend about an hour looking around (depending on what’s there at the time) and it’s well-​worth a visit. It’s free so you’re not losing out if you don’t like it!

DRAWING IN PROGRESS, which runs from November 26^th to March 20^th 2011, is a collection of 40 post-​war American drawings that will now form part of the gallery’s permanent collections.
This exhibition is the perfect opportunity to highlight the fantastic work acquired to date. and entry is FREE

The Centre Square is a mixture of old and new buildings bringing modern design together with Middlesbroughs history. All sides of the square offer a different aspect from the modern glass and steel of MIMA, the victorian grandeur of the Town Hall and public library, the open space of the boulevard with the now recognisable landmark of the bottle of notes. As a centre piece there is the dancing fountain and the big screen to erected to screen the success of the British Olympic Team and the grassed area which seems to have had several incarnations. Even the concrete sixties building built to house the law courts blends in to the mix effectively.