Bottle of Notes

The Bottle of Notes is located in Centre Square, Middlesbrough, beside mima. Produced by renowned artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen and installed in 1993, the work was commissioned by Middlesbrough Council in order to uplift the area through a series of art commissions. The sculpture which creates the shape of a bottle, is made of words shaped in painted steel. The outside white structure consists of Oldenburg's handwritten words excerpted from Captain Cook's journals, and the inside blue words from one of van Bruggen's poems.