Helena Krobath

Helena Krobath was born in Matsqui and grew up in Mission and Abbotsford, BC. Her family immigrated from across Eastern Europe to Manitoba and British Columbia in the 1930s and 1950s. She lives in Vancouver, on unceded and occupied territory.

Helena takes keen interest in how information is created and communicated. Her fieldwork in places like ports and recreational nature zones investigates how infrastructures, sensory tuning, and narratives co-construct place. Her practices include radio, electroacousic composition, photography, painting, writing, and soundwalking. She has taught workshops on sound, sensory observation, and field recording, including Audio Story-crafting for VIVO in 2017; assisting in VIVO’s 2018 mentorship, Still Creek Salmon Sounds; and leading VIVO's 2019 mentorship on Vancouver Housing Stories. She has given presentations with the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, CiTR 101.9 FM (UBC), the Feminist Media Studio, Vancouver Podcast Festival, and more.

Helena collaborates on soundwalks and interactive events with Vancouver New Music and Vancouver Soundwalk Collective. She composed a soundscape for Echos and Reflections: A co-located audio mapping exchange, hosted by Lancaster University’s Centre for Mobilities Research and published the Journal of Design and Culture’s first audio-essay in their special issue on COVID-19 (exploring political economic dimensions of “sheltering in place” through changing soundscapes of East Vancouver). She created audio work for Arts Assembly (Ghost Story Commute), New Adventures in Sound Art’s Deep Wireless 14 Transmission Festival (I dreamt this was my home), and Frank Theatre (Be-Longing sound design). Helena has co-hosted the Soundscape Show on Vancouver Co-op Radio and volunteers with Vancouver Tenants Union.