Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips (known musically as Dean & Britta) brought Andy Warhol’s Factory to Cornell Cinema on Friday night. The duo provided the musical accompaniment for 13 Most Beautiful… Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests. Together with the Andy Warhol Museum, Dean & Britta put together a set of songs to accompany 13 four-minute, black and white silent screen tests shot by Warhol in the mid-1960s. Playing both original compositions and cover songs, the band’s distinctive pop aesthetic seemed to be influenced by 1970’s punk rock (think a pleasant Joy Division/David Bowie combination). While Warhol’s pop art is still recognized by the general public, Dean & Britta’s performance reinvents the artist’s lesser-recognized work, bringing stars of the ’60s back to the silver screen.

A mixture of song and video, the performance was especially interesting because of the anecdotes provided by band. Dean & Britta took turns addressing the crowd, regaling the audience with stories about subjects’ rise to fame, and the drug use and death that followed for many of them. While some stories, like those of Edie Sedgwick, were familiar to the audience, other lesser-known characters came to life in the tales told and music performed by the band.

The performance began with a screen test for Richard Rheem — one of Wharhol’s lovers and a disciple of Alan Ginsberg — accompanied by an instrumental background track. Coming in and out of focus, Warhol played with the shadows onscreen as he zooms on different parts of Rheem’s visage. As the section came to an close, Dean, Britta and two backing musicians took the stage and began playing along with the background track.

Next, a serious Anne Buchanan displayed a blank and empty stare. Although she appeared stoic at first, over the next four minutes the audience watched as tears welled up in her eyes, slowly dripping down her cheeks and falling off her chin and beyond the screen. The raw emotion was jarring, as the subject’s face showed no expression.

While several of Warhol’s screen tests were beautiful and unique in their own right, others were enhanced by Dean & Britta’s musical accompaniment. Before showing Ingrid Superstar’s screen test, Britta explained that Ingrid became a replacement for Edie Sedgwick after Warhol and Sedgwick had a falling out. Later in life, Ingrid developed a drug problem. “One day,” Britta told the audience, “[Ingrid] went out for cigarettes, left her false teeth in the sink, fur coat on the bed, and never came back.” Dean & Britta performed “Eyes in My Smoke,” a whimsical song that reflected the capricious actress’s attitude, nervously touching her eyes, nose and mouth as she made faces at the camera.

Nico’s test, the most glamorous of any of the films, featured Dean & Britta’s first cover. As the singer, model and actress tousled her blonde hair, the band performed Bob Dylan’s “I’ll Keep it With Mine,” a song that Nico claims was written about her. An exclamation of unique and profound love and sacrifice, the musical number enhances the admiration the audience holds for the legend on the screen.

The second cover performed by the band accompanied Lou Reed’s test shot. The proverbial image of cool, Reed donned a pair of black sunglasses as he seductively quenched his thirst with a bottle of Coca-Cola. As Reed twirled the bottle between sips, the audience listened to Dean & Britta’s version of The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Not a Young Man Anymore.”

By covering two songs from the era in which the screen tests were created, the duo reminded their audience that music was a considerable part of Warhol’s subculture. The artist was involved with many musical projects, all of which influenced his work.

All of the screen tests contained interesting stories, images and musical accompaniment. Other notable individuals featured in the performance include Mary Woronov, a Cornell University dropout turned Warhol film star, Billy Name, the speed addict responsible for inspiring Warhol to paint his studio silver and Dennis Hopper.

The performance closed with a screen test for Jane Holzer, the first Warhol superstar. For four whole minutes, Holzer brushed her teeth for the camera, occasionally spitting off to the side. As the reel came to an end, it became clear that the screen tests were not just works of art, but a source of fun for the artist. Reinvented and repackaged, Dean & Britta give the films new meaning and a new audience.