Synopsis: Song Without Words is a short film exploring the gestural continuities between piano, music conducting, and sign language to redefine listening. Ting’s two-movement short film layers visual and sonic compositions like chords of perception. The first movement reflects on instruments of hearing—both musical and physiological—as Ting, who is hard of hearing, navigates sound comprehension. Ting plays with the legibility of captions as the soundscape is intentionally distorted to mimic the periodic inaccessibility of comprehension, breaking the illusion that hearing devices fully illuminate understanding. Gestures by a conductor and an ASL signer, digitized as movement calligraphy, intertwine spatial vocabularies, translating meaning without auditory cues. Pianistic hand movements echo sign language, while unstable captions reinforce partial inaccessibility. The second movement expands this inquiry as captions shift from literal descriptions of sound to poetic fragments of inner thought, with sound and graphics reflecting words that form and dissolve. Letters become atoms of meaning, assembling into nonsensical, tongue-twister sentences once used in telephone clarity tests—unheard yet deeply resonant, revealing listening as an embodied, interpretive act.

Artist Bio: Olivia Ting is a deaf visual artist exploring the space between hearing and silence through multidisciplinary work. Using a hearing aid and cochlear implant, she investigates the deaf body and digital hearing technology. Her art spans installation, film, projection, design, and haptics, blending sensory and poetic visuals. Ting holds degrees from Pomona College and Art Center College of Design. After working in New York, she returned to San Francisco to design video projections for dance, earning four Isadora Duncan Award nominations. Her work has appeared in major museums and international screenings. She holds an MFA from UC Berkeley and multiple fellowships. IG: @oting1, www.olivetinge.com, www.beethovensbox.cargo.site