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KINSHIP CODE is the first in the series from the ‘Ear to the Earth Sessions’ by Aterre Lab.
A series of immersive activations, often using digital or emerging technology - that invite engagement, deepen insight and promote dialogue around the pressing, critical issue of the impact of design upon how we relate to, value, and design for the ‘multi-species’ world.
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Central Saint Martins - 19-25 April 2026
Our stickers and placards are at welcome desks across all UAL sites during Earth Week . The project intends to engage with the broad fertile melting pot of emerging designers, provocateurs and creators who will be responsible for shaping a planet positive future.
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The slogan ‘WE ARE KIN’ serves as a salient reminder that we are part of the multi-species system. We ARE the natural world, we come from it, we return to it, we depend on it, we are physically and literally part of our planet’s living system!
Get your sticker and pledge your allegiance to Stand with Kin! Put it on your laptop, phone, anywhere it can be seen to get the message out.
Be part of the movement! Inspiring behaviour change from the grass roots up, mobilising a community of ethical stewards. The future is planet positive.
KINSHIP CODE™ Why it Matters
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‘Kinship Code’ speaks to the desire for transformation, a paradigm shift from a human centric mindset to one that embraces multi-species as our kin. This activation seeks to inform and inspire behaviour change within the creative sector to inherently understand and champion designing for and 'with' all of our kin.
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‘Kinship Code’ proposes ‘mutuality’ as the guiding principle for how we as ‘designers’ approach design. This activation acts as a introductory design primer, explaining some of the basic concepts of impact and relational dynamics via a multi-media approach.
03
The code and charter help to address the deeply entrenched post-colonial capitalist fault lines, that have promoted and preserved an extractivist, short termist, human centric culture, system and mindset.
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This small almost guerilla style activation seeks to mobilise grass roots awakening, knowledge and action, in a highly accessible tech enabled manner. Creating immediate and equitable access that speaks the language of collective planetary wisdom, in a relevant format for the emerging creatives of tomorrow.
KINSHIP CHARTER
01 KIN
The world is a dynamic, interconnected living WEB, where the intrinsic health of each living being, entity and element impacts on the wellbeing of all those connected to it. We are all Kin.
02 RELATIONS
We realise that humans are just one part of this huge multi-species ecosystem, and so appreciate the real breadth of our biosphere community, systems and reciprocal resources. Which allows us to shift from a scarcity, resource grabbing mindset to one of Interconnected Abundance. We flourish alongside our Kin.
03 MIRROR
Climate change is a self correcting mechanism, that narrows the window of tolerance for ingrained dysfunctional attitudes and behaviours. It mirrors back what does not work via catastrophic climate impacts which expose the part that we as humans play. We pay heed to the voices of our Kin.
04 MUTUAL
We accept that the future of humans and nature are fundamentally, inextricably and reciprocally intertwined. When we take care of nature, we actually take care of ourselves, our home, our resources, our economic fortunes, our future safety. We prioritise the care of all our Kin.
05 CONGRUENT
We act with congruence, so our actions match our words and we challenge cognitive dissonance. Compartmentalisation is the universal and powerful mental defence mechanism that enables humans to live in denial of their reality; a world entirely based on human and beyond human abuse, extraction, subjugation and destruction. We act with integrity towards all our Kin.
06 CULTURAL
We acknowledge the damage of the globally pervasive post-imperial capitalist and patriarchal culture which dominates and continues to shape systems, governance and socio-economic structures. We make reparation on behalf of our Kin.
07 GENERATIONAL
Prioritises respect and reference to indigenous and place based knowledge, traditional skills, ancestral traditions, rituals and customs that have evolved over time. We honour the wisdom of all our Kin.
08 ACTION
Promotes grass roots community action, that opens up a future of our own imagining, regaining agency, dignity, sovereignty and a connection to our land, traditional skills, rituals and cutural heritage. We work in unity with our Kin.
KINSHIP CONVERSATIONS
Pigeons are one of Londons most misunderstood citizens. From their early roots in the city during Roman times, they played a critical role during both world wars, safely conveying strategic communications. Today they play a vital role again, as urban cleaners in the city, they consume food waste that would otherwise create an overwhelm of food for rats. They are also an important part of the food chain for predatory birds, helping them to flourish again in the city after near extinction. Hear about the impact of human attitudes towards our feathered city kin…
Urban foxes are often seen as a nuisance, even vermin, but the reality is that they are simply adapting to the urbanscapes that we create. Foxes are avid rat catchers, consuming 200-400 rats a year, often to feed their young. Look at the city from a foxes perspective, listen to how they perceive Kinship and what they would like from us….
Have you ever wondered what Kinship means to the more than human species living around us in the city….our multi-species kin intuitively understand the concept of kinship. As humans we have a lot to learn, let’s hear what our city kin in London have to say…and how they experience our human-centric world.
KINSHIP STICKERS
‘WE ARE KIN’ guerilla laptop stickers allow participants to access and share the website and digital content via a QR code. Helping spread the word, and inspire a community grass roots movement towards more than human reciprocity, mutuality and equanimity. And they are eco friendly too!
GLOSSARY
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Is the shared ancestral wisdom we all have access to, our shared experience, a collective knowledge and set of planetary principles, written into our genes, shared generationally, that brings us in touch with our ancestors nature-based traditions, skills, rituals, and embodied knowledge.
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Being as one, relatives, clan, blood, belonging, care, alliance with nature. The belief that humans are part of a larger web of life, treating the land, animals, and water as brothers, sisters, or ancestors. Grounded in reciprocity and respect, this worldview sees all life; people, land, animals, and spirits as interconnected relatives ‘kincentricity’, rather than resources, mandating stewardship and deep care for all.
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Is the responsible management and care of resources, whether natural, cultural, or social, with a moral obligation to benefit both present and future generations. It is a dominant philosophy in Indigenous cultures, which extends into ‘Kinship’ and care for all living and non-living elements of the earth.
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Keystone species have a disproportionately large effect on their natural environment, relative to their abundance. So play a critical role in maintaining and engineering the structure of their community and ecosystem. Humans have the potential to play a vital role as a planetary keystone species.
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Along with similar terms such as beyond human, or more than human, they move away from human-centric design and perspectives, which treat nature as a resource. Toward a beyond-human model that fosters co-habitation and reciprocity. Treating non-human organisms as legitimate active participants with their own needs and sensory worlds, not merely as passive beneficiaries or scenery.
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Is the broad ecological reality of flourishing together through intertwined systems. It encourages and facilitates mutual consideration and respect for all and it requires each individual to think of themselves as a member of a larger group, community and system.
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Refers to the patterns of interaction, communication, and influence that develop over time within a highly interdependent relationship system with inter-related dynamics. It describes the ebb and flow, the push and pull, and the impact from the ways in which actors and elements engage with one another.
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Reciprocal Systems describe a dynamic, often mutualistic exchange between living entities and their environment, fostering collective well-being and long-term viability. By attuning to reciprocal systems within the broader ecological webs of life, giving for what we receive, we naturally create more regenerative dynamics and a community of resources as kin.
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Is a fundamental change in the basic concepts, practices, or worldview of a discipline or society, replacing an old, accepted model with a new, revolutionary one. It's more than just an update; it's a deep transformation in how things are understood or done, often driven by breakthroughs that challenge the status quo and lead to deep behavioural change. Famously described by Thomas Kuhn.
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Extractivist culture, mindsets and societal systems treat natural resources, human bodies, and cultural knowledge as raw materials to be exploited for profit. Typically driven by imperial, capitalist and colonial power structures, it promotes a "take-make-waste" mentality, placing economic gain above ecological and social welfare.
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Is the effect, positive or negative that our actions have upon our inter-dependent and inter-related system. Consciousness of the impact upon the web of resources that we and other species depend upon, increases our ability to make longer term planet conscious choices that benefit ourselves and our beyond human kin.
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An experiential, sensory, visual and sometimes physical interactive installation, display, artwork, workshop or other community engagement practice - that inspires and provokes thought, reflection and consideration of beliefs, behaviours, cultural norms, practices and mindsets.
CREDITS
Kinship Code - Aterre Lab
Graphics and website - Phenotypica Design Studio
Earth Week Activation Funding - UAL
REFERENCES
This project has drawn upon a wide range of sources and inspiration, the wider web of knowledge that helps expand our own, this list is not exhaustive:
UAL + MARD
Dr.Lyla June Johnston
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Amitav Gosh
Donella Meadows
James Lovelock
Tom Longmate MARD
Thomas Kuhn
Science Direct
The Sustainability Directory
History of Pigeons:
London Museum
Imperial War Museum
Winged Geographies
Google
AI audio + video

