Open Source Soup

Open Source Soup, a 2Peaz Artist Collective project (Melisa and Sharon Fortowsky), applies the open-source ethos to the oldest form of communal nourishment. Three democratic soup-making and art creation performances were held at non-traditional spaces: Midtown Co-op Community Kitchen, Sunalta Community Center, and cSPACE studio. Funded by a 2017 Take Action Grant from the Arusha Centre / Calgary Foundation. Guests received recipe cards with reproductions of artworks on display before leaving.

The project is both a practical feeding initiative and an art piece about collective authorship, resource sharing, and the radical generosity embedded in the simplest acts of cooking. It demonstrates that food security isn't only a policy problem — it's a community practice problem, solvable when people pool what they have.

Open Source Soup connects Melisa's community facilitation, nutrition knowledge, and social justice advocacy into a single gesture: making soup together. It grew into the Putting Food Up series (2019–2020), where 2Peaz created 88+ mixed media recipe card artworks exploring canning, seasonal produce, and fair trade themes.