'Perpetual Canon', the circular art installation created by Cornelia Parker CBE which features 60 flattened brass instruments suspended by wire is currently on display in Wellington, New Zealand.

Created in 2004, the title is a juxtaposition reference to the decline but not end of brass music making — Parker calling it "an anthem that is slowly winding down", "a mute marching band frozen breathlessly in limbo."

It has since been displayed in many leading galleries around the world and has also inspired a composition (from a quote by the artist) entitled, 'The Biggest Thing I've Ever Squashed' by Laurence Osborn.

Look as you listen

When asked about her art, Parker once replied: "I always think you should look at art the way you listen to music. You don't worry about what it's trying to say. You just go with the flow.

I don't think there's one set meaning to everything I've ever made. I think it replaces words. It is what it is."

I always think you should look at art the way you listen to music. You don't worry about what it's trying to say. You just go with the flowCornelia Parker CBE

Breathless

Another of her works, 'Breathless' (2001) used 54 defunct brass instruments that were crushed by using one of the 22 tonne accumulators that raise Tower Bridge in London.

It was displayed at the V&A Museum in London (where it was designed to fill its oculus space between two floors) and created a great deal of debate at the time — especially from critics such as The Churchill Society.