Surrounding mima, at 19,000 square metres, is Centre Square. Designed by Erick van Egeraat Associated Architects, along with landscape architects West 8, it includes a 120-jet water feature, innovative corten steel walkways and large areas of lawn.

Centre Square is a unique outdoor auditorium for Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley. The innovative design of the square and areas around the library and mima, offer the perfect platform for diverse cultural programming and significant events to date have included BBC proms in the park 2007, and mima’s annual art fair events Make Your Own Damn Art, 2006, and The Really Super Market, 2007. mima's 2009 art fair Ornament is Crime? is taking place on Saturday 5 September, 12noon-5pm. Admission FREE, all welcome. See home page news item and click through for details. 

The Bottle of Notes is a large steel sculpture, by artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, facing Centre Square and to mima’s right. The work was installed in 1993.