The Mind Project
The Mind Project is a collection of visual schemes drawn from Izaguirre’s philosophical notes between 2005 and 2019. The series explores an abstract symbolic language that maps the formal tensions underlying human thought — tracing the shapes that consciousness produces before it becomes word, in the territory where philosophical inquiry and the imagery of the unconscious converge.
Mind Concepts
Izaguirre’s fascination with visually representing the concept of “The Mind” began during a philosophical seminar in Caracas in 2005, where she was introduced to the contrasting ideas of Descartes and Wittgenstein.
A decade later, she integrated into her research the works of Kant, Hegel, Benjamin, Adorno, Levinas, Merleau-Ponty, Elaine Scarry, and Sianne Ngai.
Inspired by her readings on Martin Heidegger’s poetry, language, and thought, Izaguirre added a ninth scheme to the series in 2018, completing the collection.
Drafts
"Whenever we have spoken openly we have said nothing. But when we have written something in code and in pictures we have concealed the truth."
— Rosarium philosophorum, Weinheim edition, 1990.
Concept
Layered Reality
From a cybernetic perspective, reality can be understood as feedback loops constantly interacting and influencing each other. This dialectical complexity is represented in Izaguirre’s schemes as “obscure speeches” — multilayer symbols that, taken together, compose a totality of meaning that resists reduction to any single reading.
Following Wittgenstein, meaning is not inherent in symbols themselves but emerges from their use within a specific context. The visual schemes of The Mind Project operate on this premise: they do not illustrate philosophical ideas but enact the conditions under which meaning becomes possible — and unstable.
Tech Specs
- Medium: Mixed Media
- Dimensions: 3-dimensional variants based on 11 x 14 in.
- Materials: Acrylic, gel, and paper.
- Year of creation: 2017
- Year of competition: 2019
- Series: Nine symbols
© 2026 Mafe Izaguirre. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.