# Pizza 1o1 by KALA

## The work and its context

A pizza is already a small system of variation. A bounded base carries a sauce; ingredients are distributed across it; a last scattering modifies everything underneath. KALA's Pizza 1o1 makes this everyday arrangement unusually explicit. Its subjects remain immediately recognisable, yet the pictures also behave as studies in containment, density and competing scales. A ring of crust can contain hundreds of marks without making them feel like one continuous surface. A mayonnaise lattice can interrupt the ingredients beneath it as decisively as a grid laid across an abstract painting. [^S05] [^S06] [^S07] [^S08] [^S09]

The series is project 240 on its Art Blocks Ethereum contract. The current record contains 200 minted works and a maximum of 200. These are individual outputs of a program, rather than editions of one selected illustration. Food supplies an accessible vocabulary through which differences in algorithmic organisation become visible. The viewer can recognise an onion before understanding how its broken purple ring was drawn, then compare that ring's placement with the other shapes sharing its space. [^S01] [^S02]

The five originals examined here include AB5D's #178. Four are circular and one is square; two surround the food with turbulent bands while three use quieter fields. This limited comparison is enough to expose several compositional alternatives, but it does not measure their frequency across the edition. In particular, the script's psychedelic branch should not be treated as visually inspected merely because it can be identified in code. [^S02] [^S05] [^S06] [^S07] [^S08] [^S09]

## Conception and development

In a February 2022 introduction, Ujjwal Agarwal, working as KALA, connects the project to pizza's adaptability across communities and countries. He describes a layered construction and identifies circle packing and noise as central techniques. His account also traces a route through computer engineering, graphic design and electronic music to creative coding; computational arts study at Goldsmiths belongs to that contemporary account, rather than a claim about his present circumstances. [^S03]

That explanation gives the work a more particular basis than the general novelty of depicting food with code. It translates a familiar process of combination into a procedure whose decisions remain available for comparison. Choosing a sauce changes the large colour field; choosing toppings changes the sizes and kinds of marks; choosing the scale of the pizza changes how much power the background has. The food is both subject and organisational model. This interpretation follows the inspected outputs and drawing order. [^S02] [^S05] [^S07] [^S09]

The artist's introduction illustrates favourites from a test network and announces a March launch. Those images establish a development context but are not substituted here for original minted tokens. His stated breadth of possible combinations is also distinct from the much smaller realised edition. The important visible question is how choices interact within each picture, not how large a theoretical multiplication of features can become. [^S03] [^S01]

## How the work was constructed

The complete indexed program uses p5.js 1.0.0 and performs its drawing in setup. It chooses a square canvas from the available viewing dimensions and establishes a scale factor relative to a thousand-unit reference. Several drawing loops also depend on dimensions, so a faithful description should not promise perfect invariance at every display size. The procedure finishes with noLoop. There is no ongoing animation or audio mechanism in the inspected program; the electric backgrounds create a sense of movement within still images. [^S01] [^S02]

A Random class constructs two pseudorandom streams from the token hash and alternates between them after a substantial warm-up. The program creates several instances for different jobs. These instances begin from the same hash-derived state, rather than being independently seeded sources: their different uses consume copies of the sequence at different rates. A separate seed configures noise. This distinction matters because separate variable names do not by themselves imply statistically independent decisions. [^S02]

The main selection logic establishes size, shape, sauce and ingredient conditions. Three size choices set the pizza's radius as a fraction of the canvas. Thin and thick circular bases share a family resemblance, while a square branch changes the outer geometry. Some choices condition later choices, so the menu should not be imagined as an unrestricted collection of interchangeable switches. The program also contains a special colourful branch outside the normal sequence of food layers. Its existence is established by inspection, without assigning an audited rarity to it. [^S02]

Circle packing provides one placement method. The routine proposes centres and radii, requires a candidate to fit inside a circular boundary, and compares it with circles already accepted in that call. Overlapping candidates are rejected. An attempt limit prevents the search from continuing indefinitely. The result supplies positions and approximate sizes for ingredients, not a physical simulation of food falling onto dough. [^S02]

Each ingredient routine can request a fresh pack. Consequently, the separation rule does not keep every visible topping apart across the complete picture. Two different layers can overlap, and a noisy outline need not coincide exactly with the nominal circle used for placement. This explains why a picture can have a carefully spaced distribution of one ingredient while still feeling densely overlaid. The packing rule organises parts of the image; it is not a universal ban on overlap. [^S02] [^S09]

Other ingredients use other arrangements. Anchovies are constructed as textured strips around the centre rather than as a set of packed discs. Cheese and seasoning introduce numerous smaller marks. The drawing routines use changes of hue, saturation, brightness, outlines and noise to differentiate materials: seeded tomato interiors, dark olive rings, lobed pepper forms and irregular mushroom contours are made from related elementary operations. Their recognisability comes from selecting a few characteristic visual cues rather than modelling a complete three-dimensional ingredient. [^S02]

The order of drawing is equally important. The base establishes a warm boundary, sauce covers much of the interior, and later toppings interrupt earlier colour fields. Cheese and seasoning can partly obscure what came before. A slice routine, where selected, adds cut-like marks and conceals a region; it does not simulate a loose physical slice being moved away. Background branches supply concentric washes, cloth and plate treatments, or sinuous radiating bands. These are compositional surroundings, not merely alternative colours behind an otherwise unchanged object. [^S02]

There is a small qualification to repeatability. The round cheddar routine calls p5's unseeded random function for brightness, although its placement decisions use the program's seeded machinery. The square cheddar routine uses the seeded generator. This is evidence of a potential brightness difference in repeated round-cheddar renderings, not a measured claim about how much a viewer would notice. The program should therefore not be described as guaranteeing bit-for-bit identical pixels solely from the token hash. [^S02]

## The mint

The artist's announcement names 1 March 2022 at 17:00 GMT as the intended launch. The index's scheduled-start field agrees with that time, but its first token is dated 10 January and its second token 1 March at 16:58:49. Activation is recorded on 18 February. These fields describe distinct events. The second token precedes the scheduled time by 71 seconds; it should not silently be treated as an ordinary purchase after the public opening. [^S03] [^S01]

The current completion field is 28 June 2022 at 19:06:28 with a zero offset. That places completion months after the announced March launch, rather than supporting an instant sellout narrative. The index now reports 200 invocations and a maximum of 200. Establishing the originally announced limit, the identities of administrative or artist mints, and any changes to the configuration would require additional launch-era or transaction evidence. [^S01]

The observed price setting is 0.06 ETH. A current configuration field is not proof of the original price or of the amount paid for each token. No precise public-sale duration or uniform purchase price is asserted here. The chronology is useful because it preserves the difference between preparation, a scheduled opening and eventual completion without forcing those events into one release timestamp. [^S01]

## Copyright and licensing

The current artwork label is CC BY-NC 4.0. The project record does not supply a terms link; the named Creative Commons deed is linked separately. That licence permits sharing and adaptation under its attribution and noncommercial conditions, including the requirement to indicate changes. This is the observed artwork designation, not a reconstruction of every earlier version of the project's terms. [^S01] [^S10]

No separate comprehensive permission for reuse of KALA's artist script was established in the inspected material. The essay analyses that program without republishing it. The p5.js 1.0.0 dependency carries its own LGPL 2.1 licence, which should not be confused with an independent grant covering the artist's code. AB5D's CC0 dedication applies to this essay's original prose; it does not remove the artwork's conditions. [^S02] [^S04]

## Close reading of five outputs

The comparison uses editions #0, #1, #10 and #20, selected as an early-edition group, together with AB5D's #178. Their full token identifiers are 240000000, 240000001, 240000010, 240000020 and 240000178 on the project's Ethereum contract. The original generator pages were opened and their finished outputs inspected. The treasury example was selected through a fresh ownership check against all linked AB5D wallets, rather than chosen simply because its palette suited the essay. [^S05] [^S06] [^S07] [^S08] [^S09]

In #178, a large circular base sits within a muted green surround. A gold crust and darker rim contain a cream field scattered with yellow corn, red and dark seasoning, and larger green jalapeno rounds. The green rounds are far enough apart to become islands. They give the eye places to rest while the smaller marks keep the intervening surface busy. The composition depends on this separation of scales: without the large green anchors, its tiny speckles might read mainly as texture; without the speckles, the anchors would feel like a simple arrangement of discs. [^S09]

The cream is identified in the metadata as cheese sauce, while the cheese feature itself is None. That distinction prevents a plausible visual shorthand from becoming an inaccurate ingredient claim. More interestingly, the soft dark halo around the crust gives the otherwise flat diagram a modest sense of weight. The pizza seems to rest against its field even though its top remains an emphatically frontal pattern. The uneven circumference and varied ingredient outlines complicate the central symmetry without undoing it. [^S09] [^S02]

Edition #0 changes the balance between object and surroundings. Its small pizza occupies the centre of an expansive field of red, brown, black and white wavering bands. The exterior lines seem to radiate, bend and crowd one another. Across the food itself, a broad white mayonnaise lattice breaks red pepperoni shapes into smaller compartments. The two systems of line oppose one another: sinuous flow outside and a comparatively regular crossing structure inside. The pizza becomes something like a badge or sun against a much more expansive visual event. That resemblance is a reading of the still composition, not evidence of actual movement. [^S05]

In #1 the large disc returns, this time against charcoal. Pesto supplies a green field, pale cucumber discs and dark olive rings distribute larger accents, and short diagonal white cheese marks run over much of the surface. Their repeated slant becomes a stronger rhythm than the circular boundary. The ingredients remain recognisable in places but merge into a dense field elsewhere. The warm orange edge performs a crucial separating task: it gives the busy interior a clear perimeter against the quieter surround. [^S06]

Edition #10 occupies an intermediate scale. The wavy electric background resembles #0's, but the larger pizza leaves it less room to dominate. Grey anchovy strips interrupt a cream and yellow interior, while a conspicuous white lattice crosses both strips and sauce. The fish forms suggest spokes without settling into a mechanical wheel. Their irregular surfaces and the overlaid lattice keep the radial suggestion partial. Comparing #0 and #10 shows that size is more than a food category: it reallocates attention between the central object and its background. [^S07] [^S05]

The square #20 is especially useful beside these circles. A red field stretches towards four corners within a scalloped gold edge. Lavender onion arcs, brown mushrooms and green forms are overlaid by many short white diagonal strokes. The corners make the food resemble a patterned sheet rather than a disc floating in space. Broken rings establish one scale, mushroom patches another, and the cheese streaks a much finer one. The red remains visible between them, holding together a surface whose parts could otherwise disperse into separate motifs. [^S08]

## Significance and limitations

Pizza 1o1 makes procedural organisation approachable without exhausting its interest in recognition. Naming an ingredient is only the beginning of looking. The more sustained pleasure lies in seeing how a bounded shape accommodates different densities, how an overlay changes earlier marks, and how the surrounding field can transform a small food image into the centre of a larger optical event. The five works make those relationships tangible without requiring the viewer to read their construction code. [^S05] [^S06] [^S07] [^S08] [^S09]

The script adds a second level of understanding. Its separate packing calls, layered drawing and mixture of large motifs with tiny marks explain how the apparent abundance is organised. They also qualify an overly simple story of perfect separation or absolute reproducibility. Further work could compare more outputs, test the round-cheddar brightness variation, recover historical sale settings and compare the indexed script with a pinned retrieval from the chain. Those are defined limits to this account, not reasons to overlook the series' particular achievement: turning a familiar combinatorial meal into a legible study of pictorial variation. [^S02] [^S01]

[^S01]: Art Blocks. [Pizza 1o1 project and token record](https://www.artblocks.io/collection/pizza-1o1-by-kala). Accessed 2026-09-18.
[^S02]: KALA. [Pizza 1o1 indexed artist script](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-18.
[^S04]: p5.js contributors. [p5.js 1.0.0 licence](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/processing/p5.js/1.0.0/license.txt). Accessed 2026-09-18.
[^S05]: KALA. [Pizza 1o1 #0](https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/240000000). Accessed 2026-09-18.
[^S06]: KALA. [Pizza 1o1 #1](https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/240000001). Accessed 2026-09-18.
[^S07]: KALA. [Pizza 1o1 #10](https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/240000010). Accessed 2026-09-18.
[^S08]: KALA. [Pizza 1o1 #20](https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/240000020). Accessed 2026-09-18.
[^S09]: KALA. [Pizza 1o1 #178](https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/240000178). Accessed 2026-09-18.
[^S10]: Creative Commons. [CC BY-NC 4.0 deed](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Accessed 2026-09-18.
[^S03]: Ujjwal Agarwal / KALA. [Pizza 1o1 on Artblocks.io](https://medium.com/@ujjwalagarwal_11889/pizza-1o1-on-artblocks-io-46e52c2b9e0d). Published 2022-02-25. Accessed 2026-09-18.