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Plymouth immersive designer Jay Alexander explores memory and isolation in Within Forgotten Time
Tuesday, 9 September, 2025 — MA Immersive Media graduate Jay Alexander debuts Within Forgotten Time, a reflective immersive experience developed in Plymouth using Unreal Engine and spatial audio.
Recent MA Immersive Media graduate Jay Alexander has translated his fascination with atmosphere, memory and urban space into a powerful immersive experience. Premiered at Arts University Plymouth’s MA Graduate Show 2025, Within Forgotten Time invites audiences into an early 20th‑century streetscape where presence and absence coexist, created using Unreal Engine and multi‑channel spatial audio.
Jay Alexander at his undergraduate graduation ceremony at Theatre Royal Plymouth
<p dir="ltr">Jay’s practice explores “presence but isolation”, environments where traces of life remain, yet the streets are empty. Influenced by quiet, overlooked alleys in Manchester, he builds cinematic worlds that feel paused in time, layering <strong>3D environment design</strong> with immersive sound to evoke a complex, reflective mood. </p>
<p dir="ltr">At Arts University Plymouth, Jay refined this approach through hands‑on experimentation in public‑facing formats, including trialling work in VR and testing for fulldome exhibition at <strong>Real Ideas’ Market Hall</strong>, a digital centre for the arts in Devonport, Plymouth, home to a 15‑metre immersive dome.</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Read more about Jay’s work:<a href="https://www.jayalexander.co.uk/"> <strong>jayalexander.co.uk</strong></a></p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Follow Jay:<a href="https://www.instagram.com/jay.alexander.design/"> <strong>@jay.alexander.design</strong></a></p></li></ul>
<p dir="ltr">Jay’s work treats immersion with an uncharacteristic subtlety, inviting audiences into an atmosphere to be discovered rather than forcing interaction. This approach was achieved through a high level of cinematic detail, and sound that permeates the background rather than dominating the foreground of the experience. Rooted in his MA research, which drew on ideas from Gaston Bachelard (<em>The Poetics of Space</em>) and Sara Ahmed (<em>Queer Phenomenology</em>), this sensitivity to space, mood and accessibility defines Jay’s practice.</p>
<p>“<em>Within Forgotten Time</em> is about the way silence and absence can be full of meaning. By combining detailed 3D environments with spatial sound, I’m inviting people to step into a place where history lingers in the shadows - a sensory journey that encourages reflection on how spaces communicate beyond words.” — <strong>Jay Alexander</strong>, MA Immersive Media graduate</p>
<p dir="ltr">Studying on<a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/ma-immersive-media"> <strong>MA Immersive Media at Arts University Plymouth</strong></a> connects students with a thriving creative technology community in Britain’s Ocean City. Through our partnership with<a href="https://real-immersive.realideas.org/"> <strong>Real Ideas’ Market Hall</strong></a>, students develop content for public audiences using state‑of‑the‑art facilities and learn how dome, VR, AR and installation formats can shift perception and tell complex stories.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Our wider ecosystem of studios and labs supports research‑led practice, from world‑building and spatial audio to projection mapping and interactive installation. Graduates progress into roles across games and entertainment, museums and heritage, marketing and tourism, education, healthcare and beyond.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Associate Professor Stephanie Owens, Dean of Arts, Design & Media:</strong></p>
<p>“Jay’s <em>Within Forgotten Time</em> exemplifies the very best of what our MA Immersive Media programme offers, a fusion of rigorous, research-led studio practice with the extraordinary possibilities of Europe’s largest immersive dome at Real Ideas’ Market Hall. His work is technically accomplished, emotionally resonant, and demonstrates how our graduates can shape compelling audience experiences that connect deeply with place, memory and imagination. This is exactly the kind of creative innovation that Plymouth’s immersive media community was built to nurture.”</p>
Visitors try out Jay's immersive experiences at the Graduate Shows 2025
<p dir="ltr">Originally from <strong>Herodsfoot, Cornwall</strong>, Jay completed his <strong>Pre-Degree</strong> studies with us in 2021, followed by a degree in <strong>BA (Hons) Animation & Games</strong> at Arts University Plymouth, before progressing to <strong>MA Immersive Media (2024–25)</strong>. His work now spans VR, 360° fulldome content, spatial audio and environment design, with an emphasis on emotional realism and reflective engagement.</p>
<p><em>Within Forgotten Time</em> was showcased to the public at the <strong>MA Graduate Show 2025</strong> in Plymouth, where visitors experienced the project in VR alongside large‑screen previews.</p>
<p dir="ltr">If you want to design impactful immersive experiences for public audiences, <strong>join the next cohort</strong>:</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Apply now:</strong> <strong><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/ma-immersive-media">MA Immersive Media</a></strong></p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Register your interest / informal chat:</strong> <a href="mailto:postgraduate@aup.ac.uk">postgraduate@aup.ac.uk</a></p></li></ul>
<p><strong>Admissions:</strong> <a href="mailto:admissions@aup.ac.uk">admissions@aup.ac.uk</a> • +44 (0)1752 203434</p>
