Crossing over with art

October 31, 2012 11:01 AM

House of Leaves and Haunted are works in two different mediums (book and album) by two different artists that deliberately accompany each other. What other examples of this are there?

They can be by the same artist; I'm mostly interested in the different-artistic-mediums aspect. If they were created concurrently that would be best, but one inspired by the other could work. (I'm not counting movies based on books, that's way too general.)

posted by divabat to Media & Arts (30 answers total)

Jeff Vandermeer's novel Finch has an official soundtrack, recorded by the band Murder by Death.
posted by infinitywaltz at 11:14 AM on October 31, 2012

Would 2001: A Space Odyssey the movie and the book count? Made at the same time, by different artists, in different mediums. The movie isn't based on the book, but rather the book and the screenplay inspired each other.
posted by muddgirl at 11:14 AM on October 31, 2012

I think it's common for highly commercial work to have tie-ins in other media, e.g. each World of Warcraft expansion has had books or comics come out at the same time to tell more about what's going on in the game. I'm drawing a blank on more high concept artwork like that though, which might be your real object of interest.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 11:20 AM on October 31, 2012

Kid Koala is a turntablist, pianist, and graphic artist; all his books have accompanying soundtracks and multimedia tours.
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:28 AM on October 31, 2012

Enter The Matrix was a video game that came out at about the same time as the final two Matrix films and told a different, but interlocking story.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:33 AM on October 31, 2012

The several incarnations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy may fit the bill - a radio play, a novel, a TV miniseries, a text adventure game, and a film, all at different times, none of them the one 'true' version but all created by Douglas Adams and tweaked to adjust to each medium.
posted by Tomorrowful at 11:36 AM on October 31, 2012

The similiarity of House of Leaves and The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan is pretty deliberate (by the author's own admission).
posted by Kitteh at 11:40 AM on October 31, 2012 [2 favorites]

Rush's newest album Clockwork Angels has an accompanying book also titled Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson.
posted by backwords at 11:47 AM on October 31, 2012

Peter Greenaway's Tulse Luper Suitcases is a multimedia project with several films, books, Flash-based things, an ARG and live DJ/VJ performances by Greenaway. There's probably paintings, too. There's always paintings.
posted by griphus at 11:47 AM on October 31, 2012

Jeffrey Lewis has a comic book/song combo called Creeping Brain. I don't think it's ever been published, but the Youtube video should give you an idea of it.
posted by contraption at 11:50 AM on October 31, 2012

I'm presuming you're also excluding:
Movie soundtracks + movie
Figurines/action figure + movie
Figurines/action figure + TV series
Fictional "universe expansion" books + source movie
Games + source movie
Movie + source game
Painting/Sculpture + culturally-referenced movie/TV show

... IOW, this is actually very, very common, as you've asked the question.
posted by IAmBroom at 12:07 PM on October 31, 2012

amanda palmer's 2 main solo records both have a book that accompanies them.

[nsfw]
who killed amanda palmer
theater is evil - the art book also got a gallery tour.
posted by nadawi at 12:18 PM on October 31, 2012

Response by poster: Yeah, I'm more after the high concept art versions, rather than the commercial tie-ins.
posted by divabat at 12:19 PM on October 31, 2012

This might be on the edges of what you're looking for, but since it's not just a movie based on a comic or vice versa, or a spinoff comic, but rather two pieces of media that were created concurrently and form a story together, I think it counts:

The movie Southland Tales had a prequel comic that was essential to understanding/enjoying the film (and probably a big part of the reason the film was universally hated by everyone but me, because it was poorly marketed and no one actually read it).
posted by rhiannonstone at 12:20 PM on October 31, 2012

fwiw - while the amanda palmer stuff might be considered tie ins, they're pretty high concept art and i think what you're looking for - for the first one it's stories by neil gaiman and photos by kyle cassidy - for the second it's a bunch of different artists, from david mack to francis bean cobain, who were just asked to create art based on the music or on afp.
posted by nadawi at 12:23 PM on October 31, 2012

Yeah, I'm more after the high concept art versions, rather than the commercial tie-ins.

Are you trying to Google this stuff yourself using the phrase "high concept art"? I dig what you mean but "high concept," by itself, has a specific definition that applies to the situation opposite of what you want and it may be screwing up your searches.
posted by griphus at 12:28 PM on October 31, 2012

(By "opposite of what you want" I mean that a high concept work of art is easily merchandiseable, and you are specifically avoiding that.)
posted by griphus at 12:29 PM on October 31, 2012

Nine Inch Nails had an alternate reality game to accompany the Year Zero album.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:53 PM on October 31, 2012

Coheed & Cabria's albums and comics by Claudio Sanchez - The Armory Wars.
posted by rainbaby at 12:54 PM on October 31, 2012

Homestuck + homestuck albums
posted by MangyCarface at 12:57 PM on October 31, 2012

Zoo City is another book with an accompanying soundtrack, although it's more of a mixtape than original music made specially for the book.
posted by echo target at 1:13 PM on October 31, 2012

The Roadside Graves' album We Can Take Care of Ourselves is based on The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.
posted by seabound_coast at 1:33 PM on October 31, 2012

The novel The Bridge had an accompanying soundtrack written and partly performed by the authors.
posted by camcgee at 1:36 PM on October 31, 2012

The 'I, Lucifer' album by The Real Tuesday Weld is the companion to the novel I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan.
posted by mdrew at 2:13 PM on October 31, 2012

Best answer: You might get a little further if you look for the term "transmedia." There's a lot of the commercial tie-in stuff, but there are also the things like the Nine Inch Nails "Year Zero," as well as crossover experiences that Fourth Wall Studios creates, to start with.

Cathy's Book and Personal Effects: Dark Art were prepackaged transmedia books that you might find interesting.

With House of Leaves, don't forget the other companion piece, The Whalestoe Letters, which puts yet another spin on the whole plot.
posted by Addlepated at 3:11 PM on October 31, 2012

Air's Le voyage dans la lune was inspired by the Silent Film A Trip to the Moon. They composed a score for the original film. Also, the original silent film figures prominently in the movie Hugo.
posted by cnc at 4:41 PM on October 31, 2012

A Series of Unfortunate Events (book series) has the Tragic Treasury (Gothic Archies aka Magnetic Fields).
posted by grapesaresour at 7:11 PM on October 31, 2012

Response by poster: "transmedia"!!! I knew this thing had a name. I haven't been Googling for any specific terms - I was mostly riffing off Monsieur Concern's comment.
posted by divabat at 7:31 PM on October 31, 2012 [2 favorites]

The novel The Gypsy had a soundtrack by Boiled in Lead, and the cd was a cd rom, and it had the whole book on there, and that blew my mind.
posted by St. Sorryass at 8:25 PM on November 1, 2012

Lion's Blood is an interesting alternate-history flip-the-racial-divide story that has a soundtrack, a neat fusion of Arabic and Celtic music.
posted by cereselle at 1:03 PM on November 2, 2012