Mo Ganji: Great Auk | Riesenalk | Pinguinus impennis | No. EX 004/012 from work group 8/99

Mo Ganji turns toward the great auk — a large, flightless seabird once inhabiting the cold North Atlantic coasts — by letting the single line move toward essence rather than loss, function or spectacle. The line condenses the being into a reduced coherence, setting aside wings, posture and utilitarian reading so that presence can surface without illustration. In Ganji’s understanding, the line does not belong to the bird alone; it remains open, reminding us that every form is also a human concept provisionally placed upon a living continuum.

Pinguinus impennis is listed as Extinct (EX) on the IUCN Red List. The species once bred in large colonies on rocky islands from Newfoundland and Greenland to Iceland and northern Europe. It disappeared in the mid-19th century, with the last confirmed individuals killed in 1844 on Eldey Island, Iceland.

The principal causes of extinction included intensive hunting for meat, oil and feathers, as well as collection for museums and private cabinets once the species became rare. Because the great auk was flightless, bred in dense colonies and reproduced slowly, it was exceptionally vulnerable to exploitation. As populations declined, rarity itself accelerated destruction rather than protection.

Ganji’s single line opens a space in which the auk can be encountered beyond disappearance or warning symbol. It allows the being to be perceived as a life once bound to repetition and return, suggesting how extinction often unfolds not through ignorance, but through familiarity — when what seems inexhaustible is taken until continuity quietly collapses.