"Founded in January of 2016, SOUP experimental is a DIY artist-ran space located in the beautiful little city of Tallahassee, FL.  We exhibit art forms of all genre from video, performance and installation to cooking, design and music. We have off-site installation events called PORTALs that showcase artwork at houses throughout the city. PORTALs are a knod to Allan Kaprow's "Happenings" and as such try to capture the energy that once was laid in history prior. SOUP also has a traveling collective recognized nationally. SOUP is more than a gallery, but a professional platform that connects artists between different cities and regions. Our mission is to expose the blending definition of contemporary artwork to every audience all while sharing the radiance of our own community.  

Our name and collaborative, multidisciplinary approach were inspired by an important chapter in contemporary art history: FOOD, an artist-ran space co-founded in 1971 by Caroline Gooden and Gordon Matta-Clark with Tina Girouard. Located in SoHo on Prince and Wooster Streets, FOOD gave platform to any creator, from cooks, poets, and performers to visuals and architects.  The restaurant provided low-price meals to support those in need and invited members of the community and artists a-like to be guest chefs, resulting in memorable artist-rendered concoctions.  FOOD quickly became known for Matta-Clark's, "Matta-Bone" soup, which featured oxtail, roasted marrow bones, frogs' legs among other bone-type of entrees.  Finishing the bowl, the bones were scrubbed then strung together as a necklace of leftovers the participant could bring home.  Here at the intersection of art, performance, and social engagement, participants found that something as a bowl of soup could leave an imprint to last a lifetime.

SOUP has developed in response to the artistic vision and spirit behind food, and though we've put forth a menu of decidedly less edible offerings, we are looking forward to the year ahead and all the possibilities it might bring.  At the heart of it all is our commitment to strengthening our community.  For us, this means exploring creative ways to form connections between all kinds of people and projects that might, on the surface, appear to have little in common, yet stirred together, produce something of delicious substance. "