# Travel Support for Devcon 8 Mumbai — Speaker, Curator, Performer (ZK-Music)

**URL:** <https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/travel-support-for-devcon-8-mumbai-speaker-curator-performer-zk-music/58092>\
**Category:** Community Grants\
**Created:** [October 8, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/travel-support-for-devcon-8-mumbai-speaker-curator-performer-zk-music/58092 "2026-10-08T19:24:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![4ni4](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/4ni4/32/49248_2.png) [@4ni4](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/4ni4)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/travel-support-for-devcon-8-mumbai-speaker-curator-performer-zk-music/58092/1 "2026-10-08T19:24:07Z")

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Hi Zcash community,

I’m Ania Shestakova/4ni4, an independent researcher and sound artist working at the intersection of ZK privacy, biometric sovereignty, and agentic networks. I’m applying for a **$1,000 travel & participation stipend** to attend Devcon 8 Mumbai (Nov 4–5).

**What I’m doing at Devcon 8:**

- Curating and running operations for the **Music Hub** (setup, ops, programming).

- Performing **DIFFUSION Opera** — a 5-act autoethnographic sound work exploring ZK privacy and biometric sovereignty in the age of surveillance. The piece draws on Berger, Deleuze, Russolo, and Attali, and frames zero-knowledge cryptography and cypherpunk ethos as a form of acoustic and biometric resistance, continuing the lineage explored in my Devcon talk _The Emancipation of Noise: From Aesthetic Subversion to Data Defense_.

- Speaking on the privacy/social track at the **Agentic Hub** and contributing to the **Creative Hub**.

**Why this matters for Zcash:**

DIFFUSION Opera translates ZK privacy narratives into a format that reaches audiences beyond the technical community — artists, curators, cultural researchers.

The Music Hub is one of the few spaces at Devcon where privacy is explored not only as a protocol feature but as a cultural and embodied practice. I’m the only performer explicitly framing ZK privacy through sound at this year’s event.

**What I’m requesting:**

$1,000 total — $500 for round-trip flights to Mumbai, $500 for 5–6 days of on-the-ground living costs. This is logistics support only, not a performance fee. I’m covering the rest personally.

**Background:**

- Recall Labs founding team

- Indie DevEdu

- Artist in the Ludwig Collection (shown alongside Andy Warhol, MUMOK Vienna 2022 [Collaborations | mumok](https://www.mumok.at/en/exhibitions/collaborations) )

- Currently developing a book and research project on biometric sovereignty and ZK privacy (in discussion with a publisher)

**Links:**

- DIFFUSION Opera + bio + CV: [[Google Drive link]](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-Rv1AEwI2P4OMhLCRvLPwuH6BH8AJdtd?usp=sharing)  
Act I on [SoundCloud](https://soundcloud.com/ania-shestakova/diffusion-act-i-just-a-girl)

- Devcon steward confirmation for Music Hub role: available on request

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**Author:** ![ZCG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/zcg/32/33712_2.png) [@ZCG](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/ZCG)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 1:14pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/travel-support-for-devcon-8-mumbai-speaker-curator-performer-zk-music/58092/2 "2026-10-14T13:14:22Z")

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We’re grateful for your submission to ZCG. After thorough review and a window for community feedback, the committee has chosen not to proceed. Your effort is recognized, and we’d be glad to have you stay involved in the Zcash community. [Minutes](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/zcash-community-grants-meeting-minutes-10-12-2026/58182)