Polar Coordinates

In 1968 an electrical engineer at the University of New Mexico, Richard Williams, developed a computer program he called ART1. The new program allowed non-experts to create computer-generated images on the University's IBM 360 mainframe computer, without needing to understand the complexities of computer programming. The images were printed on a line printer, a device that produced a range of alphanumeric characters on continuous computer paper. Artists such as Frederick Hammersley and Katherine Nash went on to explore ART1's creative capabilities.

This artwork was created using ART2, which was developed by Nash and Ronald Reichenberger at the University of Minnesota. ART2 incorporated several enhancements, including a "polar-coordinate generator" that could generate curves from a fixed point or "pole".