WE MAY not be living in the city but being so close to London we're aware of the ever-encroaching march of the urban landscape. Watford photographer Barney Steel has been busy making a documentation of city spaces, which has so far taken him to Vietnam and Thailand with trips to Australia and Mexico planned for the coming months. The project is part of a 12-city tour commissioned by the Arts Council involving arts collective D-Fuse, its founding director Mike Faulkner, sound artist Matthias Kispert and Barney.

Born in Watford, Barney attended Queens School where his dad, Barry, was head of art. His parents live in Oxhey. After achieving a first in Communications Design, a broad course covering photography, graphic design, illustration, web design and animation at the University of Portsmouth, Barney joined The Pavement where he worked on DVD design and animation. This is where Barney says he gained what he calls his "core technical skill set".

Barney says: "It was hardcore training, working long hours so I did that for two years and then felt burned out and went travelling for eight months."

The 29-year-old freelance animator now juggles projects for Channel 4 and five, he recently did the graphics for the Peter Serafinovich Show, with city trips for the D-Fuse project.

Before setting off on these assignments, Barney says the collective contact the relevant British Council office to see which artists are available from each city.

"Then we have a chat on skype and arrange to go over for four or five days to work on a collaborative piece. We use lots of projectors and create a final performance in each place.

"Collaboration is a really important part of the process, it's a massive skill share. It's always interesting to do brainstorming on the concept and technology.

"We're constantly recording what's gained and what's been lost through rampant urbanisation. Seeing the old parts of the city being replaced by the new in rapid succession."

The project is set to be completed in about a year and will be signed off with a visual arts installation event in London.

"It just gets bigger and bigger," says Barney. "It's an evolving organic performance of non-linear film projections set in gallery context that we keep on adding to."

While in China for three months, on a previous project called undercurrent, Barney met local artists in Beijing, Chongqing and Shanghai. When we speak he has just got back from Vietnam and Thailand and is "still washing dirty underwear" before heading off for a gig in Amsterdam.

As well as the collaborative work, Barney is collating a showreel of community work. His personal photographic project comprises 50 shots pieced together to create 360 degree panoramic portraits. He hopes to stage a local exhibition of his pictures later in the year.

"I spent an extra week in Vietnam taking pics of these entrepreneurs who open up their homes to sell things such as beers, tea, fruit and veg on the street. They literally have these box rooms that are full of their possessions - wedding photos, chickens or a motorbike. They might be watching TV and perhaps there's a drunk guy in the corner playing on a gambling machine."

With that, Barney is off to pack for the next leg of his tour. Let's hope his underwear dries in time.

Details: www.dfuse.com