Idea Machine by CHIAOZZA

Meet CHIAOZZA, who will kick off a new era at the Museum with the first interactive installation in the new J. M. Smucker Co. Idea Machine space, opening this fall.  

Art museums have traditionally been places where visitors look at carefully arranged works on walls and objects on pedestals and in glass cases. But the Akron Art Museum is reimagining that experience with the Idea Machine by inviting direct physical interaction with artwork, signaling a shift in how audiences might encounter contemporary art in Akron.  

CHIAOZZA, the collaborative practice of Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao, approaches Idea Machine as a space where making and thinking happen simultaneously, dissolving the boundary between viewer and creator.  

“Our practice deals a lot around the idea of play,” Frezza says. “As two people who collaborate, we are always kind of passing ideas back and forth. We want to open up our practice to the audience here in Akron, encouraging people to touch things and interact and come up with their own imaginative ideas. We really want to foster a love of art.”  

At its core, Idea Machine is built around participation rather than observation. Instead of functioning as a traditional gallery, it is designed as an evolving environment that shifts with the energy and interaction visitors bring to the space. For CHIAOZZA, that flexibility brings both opportunity and challenge.  

“I think Idea Machine is an opportunity to find that space between imagination and creation,” Chiao says. “It gives people an extra moment to process their experience . . . and then see how that experience might connect to their own lives.”  

“The moment we’re having is special, but the echo that happens once we leave is really important to us,” Frezza adds. “We want to contribute to that echo so that those memories weave into people’s lives in meaningful ways.”  

In the context of the Akron Art Museum’s broader mission, Idea Machine represents a commitment to experimentation and access. When it opens, it will invite visitors of all ages to step into a space where play, curiosity, and discovery are not just encouraged, but embedded into the experience itself. The J. M. Smucker Co. Idea Machine brings together the Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation Gallery, the Thomas and Lisa Mandel Family Foundation Gallery and a hands-on space supported by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, forming a flexible environment for exploration and creative exchange.