This autumn, Teesside says konnichiwa to Fukuoka as The Auxiliary presents two exhibitions celebrating a growing creative exchange between Teesside and Northern Kyushu, Japan.

Opening on 15 October, COMIC WORLDS brings the work of Fukuoka-based artist aoisimon to Middlesbrough. The exhibition follows a growing international exhibition history for the Japanese artist, whose work has previously been shown in New York, Singapore, Tokyo and Taiwan, most recently at TAT ART SPACE in Bali, Indonesia, in September 2026.

Running until 31 October, COMIC WORLDS brings aoisimon’s distinctive universe of aliens, characters and imagined worlds to Teesside, continuing a practice shaped by travel, encounters with unfamiliar places and the friendships that emerge from them.

It is followed on 5 November by POLISHING TURDS, a solo exhibition by Teesside artist Stuart Langley, bringing work developed through his recent period living, working and exhibiting in Japan back to Middlesbrough.

The exhibitions grow from relationships Langley has developed within Fukuoka’s independent art scene, particularly with OVERGROUND, a project space for art & culture in Fukuoka Japan, where Langley first presented Polishing Turds in March 2026. Rather than a one-off international project, Konnichiwa, Teesside! is part of an evolving two-way relationship - artists, ideas and experiences moving between Fukuoka and Teesside.