Generative Cavefor Zara
Generative Cave brings movement, light, and Rotterdam’s live weather conditions into the store through a constantly evolving visual environment.
Created for Zara Coolsingel, the installation reacts to the people moving around it, showing shifting visuals inspired by motion, reflections, erosion, and cave-like textures.
The system runs on live data: Rotterdam's weather shifts the palette and mood, while motion tracking lets the visuals respond to people as they pass — no two moments in the store are the same. Generative textures inspired by erosion, reflections, and cave interiors evolve across large-format LED, built on a real-time generative engine.
Created for Zara Coolsingel, it's an example of generative visuals in retail done as architecture rather than screensaver: an installation that makes the store feel alive, designed, built, and installed by Bagel Affairs.
Before designing the installation, we spent time studying where the experience would live inside the store and the kind of movement that existed around it. Positioned near the fitting rooms and beside the open stepped seating area, the space already carried different rhythms of behaviour, with people passing through, waiting around, gathering together, or simply pausing for a moment. That became an important part of the thinking behind the project. We weren’t interested in creating a loud interaction. The goal for us was something softer. We imagined creating a living digital layer that responded to its surroundings without asking people to stop and actively “use” it. The imagery system was heavily influenced by Rotterdam itself. The constantly changing weather, light levels, and atmosphere of the city were directly connected to the visuals throughout the day. Rain, clouds, wind, brightness, and pace all shaped how the installation behaved in real time. The project brought together the physical energy of Zara with textures inspired by erosion, reflections, cave surfaces, and changing textures.
We couldnt stop watching people discover the motion tracking, suddenly moving like birds spotting their reflection in a window.
