The Research Mattress is Judy Lieff, Maria Maciak, and Alice Xiaodi. Tang. Together, we explore technology’s relationship to its maternal. materials and the inclusion of non-human labor as critical to the liberation of all laborers.

As we move towards working with the soil and away from working the soil, we expand Marx’s anthropocentric theory of worker’s alienation to refute the commodified and “alienated labor” of flora, fauna, pets and microbiota. These more-than-humans have their intelligences denied and exploited to absorb our pollutants, lick our hands, and fatten our bellies.

At Catwalk, the Research Mattress trio will prototype the Kin Mound, a living mobile mound featuring our elders: moss, lichen and mycelium growing among memories and techno-waste, inviting multisensorial interactions. Its mobility represents migration as a method of species survival—a response to ecological collapse and geopolitical shifts in the Anthropocene. Through this work, we seek to counter approaches of 'using' materials by engaging in rituals of resistance, collaboration, and care with our flora and fauna kin. The Kin Mound is a provocation to consider labor as a critical part of multispecies justice.