Inside Zugrama: A Zuzalu Retrospective through POAPs
Zugrama, India's first popup village, drew inspiration from Zuzalu, a pioneering experiment in temporary community living. Initiated by Vitalik Buterin in 2023, Zuzalu's initial gathering in Montenegro brought together individuals from different backgrounds to explore new ways of organizing, and to experience the latest in several categories of technological innovation. This concept sparked a global movement, with iterations including ZuVillage in Georgia and ZuConnect in Istanbul, as well as related initiatives like Edge City and many more.
Zugrama embraced this vision in a six-week popup experiment to create a temporary community focused on "catapulting India's innovation." This blog post explores the Zugrama popup village through a unique lens: its collection of POAPs, which offers a digital chronicle of this groundbreaking experiment.
The Residents: Zugrama Season 1
Zugrama began with its people. The “Zugrama Season 1” series in the POAP collection captures this essence: a resident POAP collected by every “villager” who called this popup home for one to six weeks, and a commemorative token celebrating what they built together.
Zugrama residents make up a diverse and global community, ranging from students to seasoned professionals, including Web3 builders, scientists working across longevity and public goods, policy experts, and entrepreneurs, as well as professionals who have embraced a nomadic lifestyle. Some residents had participated in multiple Zuzalu-like popups, while others were experimenting with the format for the first time.
Zugrama Contributors
The Zugrama popup village was a collaborative effort, which blended planned programming with organic contributions. The "Zugrama Contributors" POAP series recognizes key roles, including the initiators (Yesh, Anish, and KC) who brought the Zuzalu concept to India, and Track Coordinators who guided the six thematic tracks across Governance, Impact & Public Goods, Longevity, Deep-Tech, AI, and Cryptography.
A crucial element of Zugrama, and all popup villages alike, was the encouragement of resident-led initiatives. The Speakers POAP celebrates those who shared knowledge, whether through formally scheduled sessions or resident-led sessions, all of it managed through Lemonade, a platform for event management.
Contributor POAPs recognized all those who shared their time, know-how, and talents with the Zugrama community to make the popup a success. Beyond these documented contributions, the countless acts of support, shared moments, and informal collaborations were equally vital to the Zugrama experience.
Documenting the Zugrama Microbiome Study with POAPs
One of the key initiatives undertaken at Zugrama was a three-week Short Interval Dietary Study exploring how diet and lifestyle changes can reshape our gut microbiome in real-time. The various levels of participation in the study were documented using POAPs, demonstrating the potential of popup communities to drive real scientific inquiry in a decentralized manner.
The Microbiome Study Participant POAP served as an onchain record of involvement for all residents who participated in the research.
The Microbiome Study Contributor POAP recognized those who took on organizational and project management roles to ensure the study's smooth execution.
Finally, the Microbiome Study Accountability POAP (Food Police) acknowledged community members who helped each other adhere to the study's dietary guidelines, fostering a supportive environment.
Build-a-thon at Zugrama
Zugrama's Buildathon provided a platform for residents to collaborate on projects addressing challenges across the residency's six thematic tracks: Governance, Impact & Public Goods, Longevity, Deep-Tech, AI, and Cryptography. POAPs recognized both those who presented demos during the three demo rounds and those who submitted their projects to a Farcaster-based platform built for Zugrama by one of the residents.
Social Events at Zugrama
A defining characteristic of Zugrama, and indeed any thriving popup community, is the spontaneous emergence of shared experiences. The "Games, Trips & Community Events" POAP series captures this organic pulse, documenting activities initiated and driven often times by the residents themselves. From movie nights and poker games to sports outings and explorations of the local culture, these POAPs represent a significant part of the informal, community-driven side of Zugrama.
One particularly memorable example was the "Therapeutic Thursday Field Trip." After the intensity of the first three weeks and the initial Buildathon demos, residents organized a much-needed day of relaxation and exploration. This included a serene boat trip through the backwaters of Poovar, a swim and lunch at a resort, and a visit to the Azhimala Temple and beach.
Learning at Zugrama
Zugrama fostered a vibrant environment of shared learning and collaborative exploration. The "Workshops and Discussions" POAP series captures some of these interactive sessions, highlighting the diverse topics and creative formats that characterized Zugrama's intellectual life. These ranged from focused workshops to more informal discussions, which are outlined in the descriptions of the respective POAPs.
Example of one memorable POAP is "I spoke to Vitalik at Zugrama" commemorating a unique opportunity for residents to engage directly with Vitalik Buterin following his virtual keynote and feedback session.
Workout POAPs at Zugrama
With Longevity as one of the key themes, Zugrama encouraged a healthy lifestyle among its residents. During the 3-week Microbiome Study, a new initiative emerged: daily "Workout POAPs”. These digital collectibles were awarded to those who engaged in physical activities like gym workouts, swimming, or yoga. The artwork for each POAP incorporated ongoing themes and discussions from Zugrama, turning daily exercise into a visual chronicle of the residency. The community whole-heartedly embraced this initiative, and the leaderboard feature of the collections.poap.xyz platform (workout POAPs collection) further enhanced engagement by providing a fun, competitive way to track participation.
Zugrama POAP Raffle
To amp up the fun and add to the motivation to workout everyday, a live raffle was announced for the final week. Every Zugrama POAP held, including the Workout POAPs, served as a ticket, with ten framed Zugrama POAP collectibles awarded as prizes. A secret (timed) POAP, hidden in the raffle telegram announcement, added an extra ticket for those who spotted it.
The "Vibes" series
Zugrama's "Vibes" POAP series captures the everyday moments: music, co-working, and shared experiences that defined the atmosphere at the popup village, shaped in part by lead producer and Zuzalu lifer Shaka.
A key example is the "Open Source Orchestra" POAP, representing permissionless music space with past editions at Devcon and other Ethereum events.
Conclusion
The Zugrama POAP collection is a dynamic, onchain record of India's first popup village experiment. Beyond documenting events and activities, these POAPs offer a powerful toolset for community engagement.
This was demonstrated during January Zuzalu Software Townhall, where Zugrama resident Veronica created a permissionless vote on a Farcaster Frame, using Carbon Vote to utilize Zugrama POAP data for both voter eligibility and voting weight, demonstrating the expanded utility of the residency's POAP collection.
The Zugrama POAP Collection serves as a living digital archive, a page that all residents can revisit to relive the memories that defined India's first popup village, while also providing a reference for future Zuzalu-inspired communities to document their own journeys.
Explore the complete collection on POAP Collections via the link below.
