biography.

untune was founded by Helga Fassonaki in 2017 as a curatorial and creative praxis—beginning as an experiment dedicated to the term Social, and continuing as an evolving living organism shaped by its contributors. Based in Tovaangar (Greater Los Angeles), untune provides a non-hierarchical learning environment guided by reciprocity and the reweaving of our relationships with land, cultural memory, and more-than-human kin.

untune has worked on land-based projects in Arroyo Grande and throughout Los Angeles drawing from the teachings of Indigenous mentors providing ecological knowledge of California's native plants — offering resilience through water harvesting, fire adaptation, soil healing, and gifts of food, medicine, and material. These lessons are held alongside Helga’s personal relationships with the habitats of the San Fernando Valley, Simi Hills, and Northeast Los Angeles, where untune’s urban learning hub, Canvas 5025, is located.

At the heart of untune is the Residency Program, a non-discipline-specific platform for creative practitioners to engage in land-based research, collaborative projects, and reinhabitation with land and people. Hosted at Canvas 5025 in the San Rafael Hills—on Chumash and Tongva land—the program reimagines home not as commodity, property, or “tracts”, but as a dwelling shared with habitat. Residents participate in homestead activities such as seed propagation, fermentation, food preparation, and water/material harvesting, while also engaging with farms, histories, and sites across the city. Group activities and discussions emphasize reciprocity, cultural attunement, and ecological healing. 

Beyond the residency, untune's curatorial and educational endeavors include workshops, public programs and events at Human Resources Los Angeles (HRLA) that challenge colonial narratives and promote community-centered practices. Its offerings reach for a thoughtful approach to consumption, waste, and the spaces we occupy, cultivating a rooted presence—toward healing our shared home.