# Totem of Taste by Hannah Yan

## The work and its context

Totem of Taste is project 349 on the Art Blocks V2 core contract 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, published under the canonical slug totem-of-taste-by-hannah-yan and credited to Hannah Yan. The indexed project record reports a completed edition of 128 of 128 invocations, runtime p5@1.0.0, and the official description: Totem of Taste is all about the donuts. More than donuts, it is about taste buds. It celebrates the delightful, sweet, and mysterious flavors that the tip of your tongue wants to remember but cannot disentangle. In a bite, one sense ignites another. On the palette, a color blends with its ethereal neighbor. A point moves in tandem with millions of other points to reflect the monumental presence of food in our lives in real-time. The donuts are made with strange attractors ,  dynamic systems that are extremely sensitive to initial conditions. The algorithm guides the trajectories of the points until they settle into deterministic shapes to naturally form textures.   [Minimal interaction involved. Press 's' to save to the current screen size.] [^S01][^S02]

Those figures are current index observations retrieved on 2026-09-19, not a reconstruction of the original public sale announcement. Atlas position is a catalogue ordinal and is not the on-chain project ID. The live collection page and the Hasura projects_metadata row agree on title, slug, contract, and project ID after a filtered query that used the exact slug. [^S01][^S02]

Contract 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270. Aspect ratio indexed as 0.5625. Website https://www.hannahyan.com/blog-tot.

This essay treats the stored artist program, four independently identified outputs, and a freshly checked AB5D holding (or an explicit collection gap) as primary evidence. Metadata traits are cited only when they were returned for the same V2 contract token IDs that were visually inspected. They do not replace looking at the pictures. [^S04][^S09]

## Conception and development

The official project description is the development account used here. Interview or dossier sentences that name a different slug are not treated as statements about this series. Totem of Taste is all about the donuts. More than donuts, it is about taste buds. It celebrates the delightful, sweet, and mysterious flavors that the tip of your tongue wants to remember but cannot disentangle. In a bite, one sense ignites another. On the palette, a color blends with its ethereal neighbor. A point moves in tandem with millions of other points to reflect the monumental presence of

The development account used here is the specific source named in the citations, not a paraphrase of an artist-dossier page. Where that account is an official project description written in the artist's voice, that limit is stated rather than upgraded into an unpublished studio diary. Where an interview exists, the sentences that actually name Totem of Taste are the ones relied on. [^S07][^S01]

Secondary pages that only repeat the marketplace listing are not treated as independent conception sources. [^S02][^S07]

## How the work was constructed

The complete artist program for slug totem-of-taste-by-hannah-yan was retrieved from projects_metadata.script filtered by that exact slug. The UTF-8 payload is 15769 bytes with SHA-256 1d076a9d3b3f6e31f61e7973298bac335fbd4a72f173c119074bfde91d8cbc03. Runtime on the project record is p5@1.0.0. The script was read in full; it was not executed in this research session. [^S03]

The stored generator is 15769 bytes, SHA-256 1d076a9d3b3f6e31f61e7973298bac335fbd4a72f173c119074bfde91d8cbc03, runtime p5@1.0.0. Detected source markers: setup, draw, noLoop, createCanvas, tokenData, hash. Named functions include calcBite, calcD, calcSize, calcVarSize, calcYpos, calculateFeatures, doe, doeDilute, draw, fillByType. tokenData.hash is read in source. Output then follows the drawing path those functions implement. Token 0 observation: Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 28,39,72). File size 2333349 bytes. Indexed features: bg #00113D; nd 7; layout stack; palette edibleflower; fillType original; textures original-oldFashioned

Visual claims come from inspected media-proxy PNGs plus indexed token features.

Seed handling is visible in the retrieved program: tokenData.hash is read in source. Time and interaction behaviour in code is: Source contains noLoop. The inspected PNG is a finished still. Live motion was not stopwatched. A handler found in source is not the same thing as a control that was pressed in a live renderer during this session; tested controls are listed only when an actual key or pointer action was performed. [^S03][^S10]

External dependencies are those declared by script_type_and_version plus any library identifiers inside the file. Public visibility of the stored script does not grant a right to redistribute the raw artist source in this package, so the analysis cites functions and byte length rather than reprinting the program. [^S03][^S06]

## The mint

Indexed chronology for project 349 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270 is as follows. First token minted_at is 2022-09-18T05:54:47+00:00. activated_at is 2022-09-24T00:25:35+00:00. start_datetime is 2022-10-26T17:00:00+00:00. completed_at is 2022-10-26T17:06:23+00:00. Invocations stand at 128 of a maximum 128, with complete=true on the retrieved row. [^S02][^S04]

Calculated intervals from those timestamps: first mint to activation is 5.77 days; activation to start_datetime is 32.69 days; start_datetime to completion is 6.4 minutes; first mint to completion is 38.47 days. These are differences of indexed clock fields, not a claim about when a web storefront button became visible to every collector. A first mint that precedes start_datetime is treated as an early or reserved mint unless a separate allocation record is produced. [^S02][^S04]

Indexed clocks: first 2022-09-18T05:54:47+00:00, activated 2022-09-24T00:25:35+00:00, start 2022-10-26T17:00:00+00:00, completed 2022-10-26T17:06:23+00:00. Early first-mint timestamps are not labelled reserved without a separate allocation record.

Historic per-token ETH prices for the original public sale were not recovered from a primary price table during this session and remain unresolved. Any floor price visible on a marketplace page in 2026 is a current listing observation, not the 2021 ask. [^S01][^S02]

## Copyright and licensing

The project record stores the artwork licence label 'NFT License 2.0'. That label is not a Creative Commons version string and is recorded as a custom or unknown artwork term. Code rights for the artist program are not separately labelled on the same field; they are treated as unknown rather than assumed identical to the artwork deed. [^S02][^S06]

Artwork label copied exactly as 'NFT License 2.0'.

Third-party runtime p5@1.0.0 is a separate rights object from both the artwork outputs and the artist source. p5.js, three.js, and ordinary browser JavaScript each keep their own licence texts. This package does not redistribute those libraries. [^S03][^S06]

Original essay prose in this package is dedicated CC0-1.0 by the research operator. That dedication does not change the artwork, code, or dependency licences.

## Close reading of examples

Totem of Taste #0 is token 349000000 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, minted 2022-09-18T05:54:47+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 28,39,72). File size 2333349 bytes. Indexed features: bg #00113D; nd 7; layout stack; palette edibleflower; fillType original; textures original-oldFashioned Indexed features returned for this V2 token: bg #00113D; nd 7; layout stack; palette edibleflower; fillType original; textures original-oldFashioned.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Totem of Taste #1 is token 349000001 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, minted 2022-10-26T17:05:35+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 53,55,56). File size 4300186 bytes. Indexed features: bg #222; nd 7; layout radiate; palette dango; fillType gradient; textures satellite Indexed features returned for this V2 token: bg #222; nd 7; layout radiate; palette dango; fillType gradient; textures satellite.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Totem of Taste #10 is token 349000010 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, minted 2022-10-26T17:05:47+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 44,27,77). File size 5118599 bytes. Indexed features: bg #00113D; nd 1; layout uno; palette olympia; fillType rim; textures mochi-oldFashioned Indexed features returned for this V2 token: bg #00113D; nd 1; layout uno; palette olympia; fillType rim; textures mochi-oldFashioned.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Totem of Taste #20 is token 349000020 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, minted 2022-10-26T17:05:47+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 55,59,62). File size 4496272 bytes. Indexed features: bg #222; nd 7; layout radiate; palette dango; fillType original; textures satellite Indexed features returned for this V2 token: bg #222; nd 7; layout radiate; palette dango; fillType original; textures satellite.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

The AB5D header candidate is token 349000063 (edition 63), currently indexed to 0xdd19308a9731cdecb67e0d80ca6823394208c045, which is one of the three linked addresses returned for username ab5d on 2026-09-19. That ownership match is a present-tense index observation, not proof of continuous custody since mint. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 66,62,49). File size 2841345 bytes. Indexed features: bg #222; nd 6; layout stack; palette beach; fillType original; textures mochi-oldFashioned [^S08][^S04][^S09]

Motion, interaction, and audio: Source contains noLoop. The inspected PNG is a finished still. Live motion was not stopwatched. The static PNGs document halt or preview states. They are not by themselves proof that a live loop is still running, nor proof that a work is silent. No soundtrack was heard from these pages during this session. [^S09][^S10][^S03]

## Significance and limitations

Totem of Taste is project 349 by Hannah Yan on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270. The close readings above are the evidence for what the stored program outputs.

Unresolved research questions that remain after this pass: (1) What was the exact public-sale unit price in ETH at start_datetime, supported by a contemporaneous primary source rather than a later floor? (2) For tokens whose live renderer was not stopwatch-timed, what is the measured wall-clock period of one full cycle or one completed progressive draw? (3) What contemporaneous primary source records the original public unit price in ETH? (4) Incomplete Control aside, do any of the three current AB5D wallets later acquire or dispose of the header token used above after 2026-09-19? [^S02][^S08][^S10]

This package is a draft for human review. Structural validation tests file shape, not the truth of seeing or of licence interpretation.

[^S01]: Art Blocks. [Totem of Taste by Hannah Yan collection page](https://www.artblocks.io/collection/totem-of-taste-by-hannah-yan). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S02]: Art Blocks Hasura index. [projects_metadata record for totem-of-taste-by-hannah-yan](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S03]: Hannah Yan. [Totem of Taste on-chain artist program](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S04]: Art Blocks Hasura index. [tokens_metadata for sampled Totem of Taste token IDs](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S05]: Art Blocks. [Canonical token pages for sampled Totem of Taste outputs](https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/349000000). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S06]: Art Blocks project record. [Reported artwork licence label NFT License 2.0](https://www.artblocks.io/collection/totem-of-taste-by-hannah-yan). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S07]: Hannah Yan. [Totem of Taste official description](https://www.hannahyan.com/blog-tot). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S08]: Art Blocks. [AB5D linked wallet set and profile index](https://www.artblocks.io/profile/ab5d). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S09]: Art Blocks media proxy. [Static PNG renders of sampled Totem of Taste tokens](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/349000000.png). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S10]: Art Blocks. [Live generator renderer for Totem of Taste](https://generator.artblocks.io/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/349000000). Accessed 2026-09-19.