On Air – On Site is a yearly art radio festival in The Hague. It always starts on a Friday night and lasts 48 hours, spanning a weekend in the spring. As the name suggests, On Air – On Site happens both combines being on air with a live format. It consists of a fixed media program of international sound artists, live radio on Friday and Saturday night broadcast from Radio Tonka on Den Haag FM, and two afternoons of live performances streamed from the Institute of Sonology and West Den Haag. While the 2024 edition of On Air – On Site had a focus on Cuba, the festival is partnering with institutions in Chile for the 2025 edition. The Museo del Sonido in Santiago de Chile will stream the festival in a listening lounge and Tsonami in Valparaíso is participating with a fixed media program as well as with a live intervention.
About the organizers: Sound artist and radio maker Margherita Brillada conceived this initiative recognizing the sociological dimension of radio as a public space for artistic involvement and community connection. In 2023, she initiated the festival as a practice-based project aligned with her artistic research in community radio and web radio. Leonie Roessler works with field recordings and art radio. Her work has been increasingly focused on both collaborative composition processes and the theme of marginalization. Margherita and Leonie have been working together for three years now, and are also running BUG Radio, a Social-Public Space for Artistic Practices.