tracing basalt
in the onsernone valley

2025
in collaboration with Ludwig Berger
album based on the writings and life of Basalt (1910-?)
recorded and composed during a residency at casadirosa
published by forms of minutiae & Vertical Music
CD + booklet + digital

Published by forms of minutiae and Vertical Music, “tracing basalt in the onsernone valley” is the first collaborative project of field recordists and sound artists, Pablo Diserens and Ludwig Berger, based on Basalt’s writings.

In the Oratorio di Niva, deep in the Onsernone Valley (Ticino, Switzerland), Pablo Diserens and Ludwig Berger found loose sheets of paper in a folder marked with the name “Basalt.” These aphoristic and personal notes conveyed a profound philosophy of listening and belonging. Amazed, the two artists asked their host, Johannes Rühl, if he knew anything about these writings.

It is said that Basalt (1910 - ?) was a gender non-conforming person born and raised in Berlin. They studied geology while being part of the city's vibrant queer scene before escaping the Nazi regime in the 1930s. For years, they travelled through Europe until they settled in the Onsernone Valley in the 1950s. Here, Basalt developed a keen ear and relationship to the environment informed by early theories of bioacoustics, psychoacoustics, and ecology. Oozing with poetry, Basalt’s notes revealed a hypothesis of their own emerging from a singular methodology of listening. The core principle of their “sonic imprint theory” was the belief that sound leaves measurable traces in the matter it comes into contact with. Consequently, Basalt spent the rest of their life using their body as a sound recording device in the hopes of creating a sonic archive through their skeleton. In time, they cultivated an intimate and extensive relationship with rocks, birds, rivers, insects, and human locals—such as fellow trans refugee and poet Gian Alessandro Rapp. In the end, nobody knows exactly what happened to Basalt. It is believed that they disappeared in the Onsernone Valley, their body never to be found. Based on Basalt’s last written entry, some speculate that they morphed into a grasshopper and joined, what they called, the insect people.

Inspired by Basalt’s life and writings, Pablo Diserens and Ludwig Berger put Basalt’s thinking and methodologies into practice. The duo followed these aphorisms like a map, listening to the Onsernone Valley and recording the sounds it fostered. As time passed, the landscape unveiled itself differently and the parallels with Basalt’s experience grew. Sounds became palpable while the boundaries between the two artists and the world blurred. Out of this attempt to bring Basalt’s philosophy back to life, Pablo Diserens and Ludwig Berger created a counter-cartography of the valley’s soundscape, tracing the effects and interrelations of its sonic imprints. Together, the album and Basalt’s writings enact a psychogeographical gesture that urges listeners to reimagine their relationship with the world around them.

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Selected writings of Basalt are featured in the CD’s booklet and as a digital PDF with the album.
CD+booklet and digital editions available on forms of minutiae ︎︎︎




> duration: 39:48 — CD+booklet — limited edition of 200

recorded and composed by pablo diserens and ludwig berger
inspired by the life and writings of basalt (1910 - ?) — all texts by basalt

> photographs by pablo diserens
mastered by mathieu bonnafous
design by nicolas turki duchesnay

> produced during residencies at casadirosa in loco, ticino
special thanks to johannes rühl


> published by forms of minutiae + vertical music
fom 17 + VM16 — 2025

> supported by kanton zürich farchstelle kultur & stadt zürich kultur






This project was first presented as a live audiovisual performance at the festival Eventi Letterari Monte Verità’s 2025 “Psychogeography” edition. (photos © Michela Di Savino - Eventi letterari Monte Verità 2025)