Sound for Silents: Film + Music Commission on the Walker Hillside features a Live Score by Marijuana Deathsquads including Justin Vernon, Benson Ramsey, and Channy Leaneagh to Silent Films by Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling and René Clair

Minneapolis, July 20, 2017 – Grab a blanket, pack a picnic, and head to the grassy hillside of the Walker’s new Wurtele Upper Garden for an enchanted evening of new music and silent films. For this special Walker commission, Ryan Olson (Poliça, Gayngs) and his all-star ensemble Marijuana Deathsquads including Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Benson Ramsey (The Pines), and Channy Leaneagh (Poliça), present intriguing and new live cinematic scores set to 1920s experimental short films by iconic avant-guard artists Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling, and René Clair.

The films are drawn from the Walker’s Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection. Sound for Silents: Film + Music on the Walker Hillside is free and takes place Thursday, August 17, at dusk (about 8:30 pm). DJ Sean McPherson from 89.3 The Current will spin before the band. Food available for purchase from Hot Indian Foods and Fro Yo Soul.

The Sound for Silents full band line-up features:

Justin Vernon: guitar/electronics/vocals (Bon Iver)
Benson Ramsey: guitar/electronics/vocals (The Pines)
Jake Luppen: guitar/vocals (Hippo Campus)
Isaac Gale: vocals/synths (Marijuana Deathsquads)
Mark McGee: electronics (Vicious Rumors, Starcastle)
Channy Leaneagh: vocals (Poliça)
Ben Ivascu: drums (Marijuana Deathsquads)
Mark Jorgensen: drums (Marijuana Deathsquads)
Drew Christopherson: drums (Poliça)
Trever Hagen: (Marijuana Deathsquads)
Ryan Olson: Conductor (Marijuana Deathsquads)

In the 1920s, artists Hans Richter and Viking Eggeling pioneered a new, highly abstract cinema, using simple geometric forms, absurd humor, and syncronic movement to create highly kinetic, playful, and rhythmic work on screen. Their films, which in 1925 were screened in conjunction with René Clair’s Entr’acte, remained touchstones for later Surrealist efforts and made an immeasurable impact on the landscape of twentieth-century avant-garde cinema.

Sound for Silents: Film & Music is supported by the Bentson Foundation and the McKnight Foundation.