Nelson-Atkins Shuttlecocks

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen built a career out of the monumental everyday, giant clothespins, spoons, typewriter erasers, and trowels placed in city plazas around the world. For Kansas City they seized on the museum's grand building and its wide lawns and imagined the whole ensemble as a badminton court, the stately Nelson-Atkins standing in for the net and the birdies frozen mid-game across the grass.

Each shuttlecock stands close to eighteen feet tall and weighs several thousand pounds, built of aluminum and fiberglass-reinforced plastic. There are four of them, arranged so that from certain angles the lawn really does read as a court in play. When they arrived in 1994 some locals were baffled or annoyed, but the birdies quickly won the city over, and today they are as much a symbol of Kansas City as any building.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opened in 1933, endowed largely by the newspaper publisher William Rockhill Nelson and by a Kansas City schoolteacher named Mary Atkins, whose separate bequests were combined to build it. It rose during the Great Depression, and its grand Beaux-Arts building became a cultural anchor for the city.

Inside is one of the country's finest art collections, especially strong in Asian art, European painting, and American works, along with a celebrated modern wing. The lawn and its birdies make the museum feel open and unpretentious, a place where families picnic and children roll down the grass beneath the great white cones.

Part of what makes the Shuttlecocks special is how accessible they are. They sit on open, welcoming lawn, so you do not need a ticket to enjoy them; the grounds and the Kansas City Sculpture Park around them are open to all, day and night. Families spread blankets between the birdies, and the pieces are lit after dark.

The surrounding Kansas City Sculpture Park holds other works as well, including bronzes by Henry Moore, so a walk across the grounds is a small outdoor gallery in itself. The Shuttlecocks anchor it with humor, a reminder that great art can also make you smile.

The museum stands in Kansas City's cultural district, a green, walkable neighborhood of institutions and stately homes. Just across the way is the Kansas City Art Institute, one of the country's respected art and design schools, whose students have long treated the museum grounds as a backyard.

A short drive south lies the Country Club Plaza, an early-twentieth-century shopping district built in Spanish Revival style, full of fountains and tilework and famous for its holiday lights. Between the Plaza, the museum, and the sculpture lawn, this corner of the city is one of its most rewarding to explore on foot.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

The Nelson-Atkins shuttlecocks are a beloved and iconic set of giant sculptures on the grounds of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, depicting enormous badminton shuttlecocks, or birdies, scattered across the museum's great lawn. The whimsical, oversized sculptures, created by famous pop artists, playfully imagine the museum building as a badminton net and the vast lawn as the court, and they have become one of the most recognizable and delightful landmarks in Kansas City. Free to see and fun to photograph, they invite play and wonder, while the acclaimed art museum they front offers a superb, free collection. With its giant shuttlecocks, the Nelson-Atkins offers a delightful destination in Missouri.

You can see and photograph the giant shuttlecock sculptures scattered across the museum's great lawn, stroll the beautiful grounds and sculpture park, picnic or relax on the lawn, and visit the acclaimed Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which offers a superb and largely free collection spanning world cultures and eras. The whimsical shuttlecocks, the sculpture park, the lovely grounds, and the excellent free art museum are the draws, making it a delightful and family-friendly outing. The playful sculptures delight all ages. With its shuttlecocks and art, the Nelson-Atkins offers a rewarding experience in Kansas City, Missouri.

Yes, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art offers free general admission to its acclaimed permanent collection, and the outdoor grounds with the famous shuttlecock sculptures and sculpture park are also free to enjoy, making it a wonderfully accessible cultural destination, though some special exhibitions may carry a fee. Its free admission makes it easy to visit the art and the giant shuttlecocks. Checking current hours before you go is wise. This free access makes the Nelson-Atkins and its shuttlecocks a wonderfully accessible destination in Kansas City, Missouri.

The mild months of spring through fall offer the most pleasant weather for enjoying the outdoor shuttlecock sculptures, the great lawn, and the sculpture park, with spring and fall especially comfortable, while the indoor art museum can be enjoyed in any weather. The lawn is lovely for picnics in warm weather. For the outdoor shuttlecocks and grounds aim for spring through fall, or visit the art museum any time of year, at the Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum and its shuttlecocks are in Kansas City, Missouri, within reach of the National WWI Museum and Memorial, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Loose Park, Union Station and Science City, and the Kansas City area. That makes the Nelson-Atkins shuttlecocks a delightful stop to combine with the National WWI Museum and Memorial and the other attractions of Kansas City on a visit to Missouri.