Kansas City, Missouri: World's Largest Shuttlecocks
Sculptures by Claes Oldenburg (1929-2022) and Coosje van Bruggen. Art or eyesores? Whatever; they're giant and they're scattered across an art museum's lawn.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
- Address:
- 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, MO
- Directions:
- I-70 to I-670. I-670 exit 2Q (McGee St.). Head south on Main St. almost four miles. Left onto Brush Creek Blvd, then quick left onto Oak St. The Shuttlecocks are widely spaced across the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art grounds.
- Phone:
- 816-561-4000
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Visitor Tips and News About World's Largest Shuttlecocks
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It is great, but the museum is even better. Have an afternoon available to see everything in the museum. It is free entry, but they do take donations.
[Kim Clark, 12/03/2013]
We went to see these, and they're pretty awesome. My husband was upset that we paid $5 to park at the "free" art museum, so we decided to go in. It is a wonderful museum. Lots of great collections and pieces. Worth the trip!
[Connie, 08/07/2013]
I have to take exception with the assertion that "Shuttlecocks" is in "bad taste" and that critics hate them. ART critics love them. People with narrow, mistaken, ideas about what makes art hate them. Pop art isn't for everyone. At the least, "Shuttlecocks" is very important work by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, arguably the most important Pop Art sculptors in the world.
[Hugh Williams, 09/02/2005]The Nelson-Atkins Museum has balls, er, birdies for this one. In a very daring move, they installed a number of monstrous badminton shuttlecocks on the museum grounds. Each "birdie" is eighteen feet tall and weighs two and a half tons. Critics hate them saying they are in bad taste. Bad taste, the perfect ingredient for a roadside attraction!
[Frank Brusca, 06/10/2002]Nearby Offbeat Places



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April 2006 - Photo added.