what are you looking for?
Web-archive about «raspetushye» phenomenon
V-L-V-SH-M-D, 2022 – until now
V-L-V-SH-M-D, 2022 – until now
The «What Are You Looking For?» archive is a pirated and semi-pirated web archive, compiled by Van’ka-Lenki-Vit’ki-Shunki-Mishki-Dunina (V-L-V-SH-M-D).
The archive was compiled beginning in 2022; it took shape in 2025, but is still growing. The theme and focus of the archive is the «raspetushye» phenomenon in the area around the White Sea. The archive offers photos, audio, video, and text materials related to the phenomenon, and is also provided with an inventory.
The phrase «What are you looking for?» (rus.Chto ischesh?) is a common part of everyday communication in apps and chats for men seeking sexual and romantic russian-speking partners. In search of an identity that answers the question "how" rather than "what," I explore the history of "raspetushya/raspetukh," which is riddled with blind spots created both by the raspetukh's own will and by institutions seeking to conceal, destroy, and distort these histories.
The archive was compiled beginning in 2022; it took shape in 2025, but is still growing. The theme and focus of the archive is the «raspetushye» phenomenon in the area around the White Sea. The archive offers photos, audio, video, and text materials related to the phenomenon, and is also provided with an inventory.
The phrase «What are you looking for?» (rus.Chto ischesh?) is a common part of everyday communication in apps and chats for men seeking sexual and romantic russian-speking partners. In search of an identity that answers the question "how" rather than "what," I explore the history of "raspetushya/raspetukh," which is riddled with blind spots created both by the raspetukh's own will and by institutions seeking to conceal, destroy, and distort these histories.
The archive is divided into two parts: Input (I) and Output (II). Part I contains materials about raspetukhs, recorded by second- and third-person accounts (sections by person). Part II contains materials from the first-person perspective (sections by process and medium creating this archive). Currently, work is underway on two processes: II.1.4. «Vorozhnoy kimar» and II.1.5. The «What Are You Looking For?» Archive.
In process II.1.5., an inventory of previous works and sources is being compiled and some are being published. This Instagram account is part of this process.
In process II.1.5., an inventory of previous works and sources is being compiled and some are being published. This Instagram account is part of this process.
I Am A Cow,I Am A Bull,
2026, Shortfilm
The film plays with peripheral states – dream and reality, life and death, internal and external, based on the gender transition of local residents, who, at holidays, in their daily lives, as jokes, and for other reasons, were not confined within strict boundaries.
I Am A Cow, I Am A Bull
2026
Shortfilm
Shortfilm
The film was shot and edited in two days in the home village of the archive holder.
͘͘͘«Я корова, я и бык, я и баба, и мужик» (I am a cow, I am a bull, I am a woman, I am a men) – set expression used when a woman does a "man's" job or a man does a "woman's" job.
Trailer
Full film
Queer Ghosting,
2026, Audio-essay
