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# Sum of the Arts
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sum-of-the-arts-15/
- Published: 2015-06-19T11:00:52.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:43:18.000Z
- Description: Number of international art fairs now held each year = 180 (compared to 55 in 2000)
- Author: Allison Meier
- Tags: Art, Sum of the Arts, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2)

![Sculptures at the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, created by Indian artist Nek Chand from discarded material, who worked the first 18 years in secret (photo by Rod Waddington, via Flick)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/nekchand01.jpg)

Sculptures at the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, created by Indian artist Nek Chand from discarded material. He worked on it for 18 years in secret. (photo by Rod Waddington, via Flickr)

*Inspired by the* [*Harper’s Index*](http://harpers.org/departments/harpers-index/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* [*Sum of the Arts*](http://hyperallergic.com/tag/sum-of-the-arts/) *is a periodic tabulation of numbers floating around the art world and beyond.*

- Years Indian artist Nek Chand, who [died last Friday](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/arts/nek-chand-creator-of-a-sculpture-kingdom-in-india-dies-at-90.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), [secretly built](http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/06/12/nek-chand-dead%5Fn%5F7567108.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) his Rock Garden of Chandigarh sculptures and waterfalls on state-owned land = **18**
- Number of tiny gold-inlaid pistols [given by Napoleon](http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/06/12/uk-britain-waterloo-napoleon-gloves-idUKKBN0OS1IH20150612?ref=hyperallergic.com) to his three-year-old son during their last moments together = **2**
- Percentage of adults in the United States [who have a tattoo](http://www.nature.com/news/image-software-spots-links-in-tattoo-ink-1.17714?ref=hyperallergic.com) \= **20**
- Percent increase in [American arts and culture donations](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-arts-philanthropy-giving-usa-report-2015-20150615-story.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) in 2014 = **9.2**
- Number of schools in Michigan with their heat and air conditioning [controlled by a 1980s Commodore Amiga](http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a16010/30-year-old-computer-runs-school-heat/?ref=hyperallergic.com) \= **19**
- Percentage of all art thefts that occur in [private residences](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-15/what-happens-to-stolen-art-after-a-heist-?ref=hyperallergic.com) \= **95** (and the FBI’s recovery rate is less than **10%**)
- Number of international art fairs [held each year](http://www.economist.com/news/business/21654100-some-wonder-if-art-fair-boom-reaching-its-limits-brush-hour?ref=hyperallergic.com) \= **180** (compared to **55** in 2000)
- Gallons of water the ancient Roman Anio Novus aqueduct [is estimated to have carried](http://www.livescience.com/51167-water-carried-roman-aqueduct.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) per second = **370** (**25** percent less that previously thought)
- Years before artist Taryn Simon’s cube of nuclear waste [will go on view at Moscow’s new Garage Museum of Contemporary Art](http://www.wsj.com/articles/moscows-contemporary-art-movement-1433455687?ref=hyperallergic.com) \= **1,000** (it’s being stored in a Russian nuclear facility until **3015**)
- Number of hands [on an 800-year-old Buddha statue](http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-china-unveils-800-year-old-buddha-statue-with-1000-hands-after-7-years-of-restoration-2095221?ref=hyperallergic.com) that was recently restored in China = **1,000**
- Native speakers [of Esperanto](http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/06/13/413968033/esperanto-is-not-dead-can-the-universal-language-make-a-comeback?ref=hyperallergic.com), created in the 19th century as a universal language to encourage peace and understanding = **1,000**
- Number of shipwrecks [owned by the state of Michigan](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/michigan-owns-1500-shipwrecks-180955620/?ref=hyperallergic.com) \= **1,500**