Since Sept. 24, Middlesbrough’s Centre Square has been home to a small, temporary place to wander, make things and meet local artists. Called Little Boro, the installation turns repurposed shipping containers into a free creative village as part of Middlesbrough Art Week. It remains open on listed days through Saturday, Oct. 3, according to the council’s visitor schedule.
Instead of one large exhibition hall, the village uses four streets named North, South, East and West, echoing early Middlesbrough’s layout. Each container serves as a separate creative space. Visitors enter beneath a bright arch designed by artist Morag Myerscough, while an installation called Play Out by local creative organization Sawdust invites people of all ages to explore and spend time together. The arrangement brings the event into an everyday town-square setting rather than a ticketed gallery.
Some of the village’s work has been made with residents. Eight containers were transformed by Sum Place, led by artist Colin Davies and trainee art psychotherapist Nic Quinn, with designs celebrating people considered local heroes. Their project also includes a temporary tribute to Dorman Long Tower, a familiar feature of Teesside’s industrial landscape.
Other installations invite visitors to imagine alternative futures. Whippet Up’s Boro 2099: Middlesbrough Reimagined grew from work with 100 participants. Its miniature future city includes bridges, gardens, lakes, rockets and rabbit cafés. Sidequest’s Pop-Up Cardboard Museum of Natural History from the Future uses recycled cardboard and illustration to ask what species, objects and stories might survive in a changed world.
Film and home life have their own place, too. Artist Alex Culshaw’s Blue Lagoon is a film connected with the former Blue Lagoon nightclub in Seaton Carew, the post-industrial coastline and memories. Artists Georgia D’Silva and Jessie Marie Butler have made installations around the everyday details and feelings held in domestic spaces. At the center of the village, sculptor Liaqat Rasul’s first outdoor sculpture explores the Bengal famine and its history through the image of a large metal face suggesting a map joining Britain and India.
Students bring their own work to the village
Middlesbrough College students also have a container in the village. Their exhibition, Belonging, opened on Sept. 24 and runs for nine days, the college said in a Sept. 29 report. Work from students in art and design and fashion communication reflects experiences, cultures and stories that shape Middlesbrough. The show gives young people a chance to invite neighbors into their work in the same public space as established and emerging artists.
The college says students worked across videography, photography, printmaking, costume, fashion, charcoal and fine-line drawing. Some are also volunteering and hosting the exhibition. The college describes the display as a chance for each piece to become part of a student’s portfolio, connecting public exhibition with practical experience and future creative work.
A creative detour for families
Little Boro’s family program gives children and adults a way to participate, not only look. Its organizers list free drop-in workshops and hands-on activities, including Build Your Own Dinosaur, family workshops with Summat for the Bairns and sessions tied to the miniature city project. A final Saturday of family workshops and zine-making is scheduled for Oct. 3. Times are posted on Middlesbrough Art Week’s program page, and the council’s visitor calendar lists specific open days, so families can check before traveling.
The container village is a collaboration involving Middlesbrough Art Week and the council, with support from Arts Council England and community arts fund Borderlands. Middlesbrough Art Week’s stated idea is to bring artists, local organizations and residents into a shared place; NARC Magazine’s independent preview described Little Boro as the festival’s social heart, with events and family activity around the town.
That mix gives the project more than one way to take part: a person can stop for a workshop, walk through an exhibition, see what students have made or simply spend time in Centre Square. The council lists the final open date as Saturday, Oct. 3. Admission is free. Set in Centre Square, Little Boro offers a reason to pause and try something creative together.
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