“In individuals, madness is rare; but in crowds it is the rule.” So spake Friedrich Nietzsche, and it is a quote that takes on added meaning in light of the past two-and-a-half years navigating the pandemic.

It is also a maxim close to Richard Tognetti’s heart and one that has inspired The Crowd & I, his latest, thought-provoking marriage of image and music with regular collaborator Australian cinematographer Jon Franks, which is currently touring as part of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s 2022 season.

The Crowd & I, Australian Chamber Orchestra, 2022. Photo © Julian Kingma

The 80-minute show also features The Song Company and pianist Konstantin Shamray, and is directed by Nigel Jamieson – his fifth production with Tognetti. The two of them have spent the lockdown period reworking and expanding The Crowd, a project that was first performed at a festival in Slovenia 2011 before limited release in Australia two years later.

Its new manifestation is made up of 14 chapters which plot humankind’s occupation of the increasingly fragile planet, contrasting overcrowded trains in India and Japan with the vast unoccupied country of the Northern Territory’s Tanami Desert...