The Same River Twice a Photo-film by Dick Blau

The Same River Twice will transform a forlorn space in the very center of downtown Milwaukee every night for the next six months. The photographs that make up its slow upwelling of image were made at the Milwaukee River a block away. They are neither representational, at least in any conventional sense, nor do they employ any special effects. The images explore the surface and depths of the river, arresting its flow to consider the ways that sun, sky, clouds, wind, current, and reflections of the buildings that line the river all interact in a particular instant.

Deeply abstract, they turn the familiar into the strange, challenging the imaginations of those who look at them and adding a sense of wonder and surprise to the everyday life of the city. The Same River Twice does not have a conventional soundtrack to go with the images. It was conceived as a silent film. However, in this Wisconsin Ave version, there will occasionally be music. Four times a month during the run, thanks to Downtown Milwaukee, a musician will appear and improvise to them on his melodeon.

Dick Blau, Professor Emeritus and Co-Founder of the UW-M Department of Film, Video, Animation, and New Genres, has a BA from Harvard in English and a PhD from Yale in American Studies. He is the author of six photo books and numerous films on subjects ranging from interpersonal family dynamics to the music and culture of the Roma of northern Greece. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as, locally, the Museum of Wisconsin Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Blau also works in installation, with a focus on public art. His POLKA TIME! was a beloved fixture in Milwaukee’s Baird Center for 25 years until it was deaccessioned last year when the current CEO declared one of its photographs to be “inappropriate.”

Blau’s photographic study, Milwaukee Night and Day, was installed on Wisconsin Avenue and ran nightly for fifteen months in 2018-19. Another version, this time made into an actual film, played in the window of Milwaukee’s nationally known gallery, The Suburban, for several months in 2022, then went onto the international film festival circuit, where it has been winning awards.

Evan Maruszewski is an artist, musician and organizer without enough time in the day. After graduating summa cum laude with a BFA in film and video from UW-Milwaukee’s Peck school of the Arts, they have worked as a multimedia director, illustrator, animator, editor, designer, sound engineer, game and web developer, CAD modeler, actor, choreographer and screen printer. Maruszewski has been performing music on the diatonic melodeon for over two decades, both as a soloist and with their bands, the November Criminals and Preomnor. Maruszewski is also a founder and organizer of the Milwaukee Polka Riot festival and most recently, the SKANKmke dance series.

Evan Maruszewski’s schedule in November/December:

Friday, November 15 at 7pm

Thursday, November 21 at 7pm

Saturday, November 30 at 7 pm

Thursday, Dec 5 at 7pm

Wednesday, Dec 11 at 7pm

Friday, Dec 20 at 7pm

Friday, Dec 27 at 7pm

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.