PALM SPRINGS, CALIF.- Palm Springs Art Museum presents Lake Verea: DarkRooms and Other Games, an exhibition by artists Francisca Rivero-Lake and Carla Verea. Since 2005, the Mexico City–based duo has collaborated as Lake Verea, merging their identities as queer women with experimental photographic techniques to create intimate portraits of architecture.

With DarkRooms and Other Games, they turn their lenses to Palm Springs icons, including Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House and Albert Frey’s designs: Aluminaire House and Frey House II, capturing these homes under full moonlight to reveal moods and details invisible under the glare of the desert sun.

“Palm Springs has long been a place where architecture and creative experimentation intersect,” said Christine Vendredi, JoAnn McGrath Executive Director of Palm Springs Art Museum. “Lake Verea’s work invites us to slow down and reconsider these architectural landmarks, revealing how design can be experienced through atmosphere, time, and human presence.”

Lake Verea’s patient, almost meditative process results in analog photographs that transform familiar landmarks. Often appearing within their own images, the artists introduce moments of discovery and intimacy into the frame.

“Lake Verea’s artworks consider elemental themes of light and darkness, joy and stillness,” said Mimi Zeiger, guest curator. “By inhabiting and photographing these modern homes, they raise an unspoken question: Just what happens in these domestic spaces in the moonlit hours?”

The exhibition also includes tactile frottage works, which the artists call “frottragraphy,” created by rubbing paper across architectural surfaces. These works extend Lake Verea’s ongoing investigation into how photography, performance, and touch can generate new narratives around architectural history.

Lake Verea: DarkRooms and Other Games is curated by Mimi Zeiger, Guest Curator at Palm Springs Art Museum.