ZURICH—A tattoo that Belgian artist Wim Delvoye inked on the back of a young Swiss man has been sold to a German collector for $216,000, Artforum reports via Agence France-Presse. According to the terms of the transaction, the collector can display 31-year-old musician Tim Steiner's back, now bearing a "living tattoo" representing the Madonna and a death skull, three times a year; when Steiner dies, the tattoo, which took 35 hours, will be skinned from his back and passed on to the collector. The work can also be resold, donated, or bequeathed, like any other work.

Jutta Nexdorf of Delvoye's Zurich gallery, De Pury and Luxembourg, says the transaction, dubbed a "performance," is the first of its kind in the world. The profits of the sale were divided among Delvoye, Steiner, and the gallery. The percentages were not revealed. Steiner's back will be on display in Singapore and Shanghai next week.