VerbivocoVirtual 2

The Wrong Biennale Pavilion

Attention Is All You Need

2025

“Attention Is All You Need” is the title of a 2017 paper authored by eight scientists who introduced a revolutionary, more efficient, and precise machine language model, now widely used by artificial intelligences (AI). The title was inspired by The Beatles’ song “All You Need Is Love.” “Attention: Perception requires involvement” is a celebrated statement by Catalan artist Antoni Muntadas, part of his “On Translation” series, which explores language issues such as transcription, interpretation, and translation. The artist understands that every translation is an operation that carries some of the subjectivity of the individual who produces and transmits it. This operation also applies to media and cultural institutions, and how these systems act as filters, profoundly influencing (intentionally or not) the reception of information. What happens when these language operations are no longer performed by individuals, but by algorithms?

The idea is to explore this question through an interactive experience captured on video. In the recording, a user navigates a virtual page where a text, related to the central discussion, is visible. Upon clicking anywhere on the screen, the text’s language changes instantly, alternating between various languages. Simultaneously, an edited version of “All You Need Is Love” plays on a loop, but with a peculiarity: its lyrics have been reconstructed using words from different songs, creating a new layer of meaning.

Alexandre De Nadal

Brazil