Bang on a can (and lots of other things)

“A reminder of how even the most banal items can become effective tools for art” (New York magazine), “Stomp” features a cast of eight highly energetic performers who raise a holy racket as they discover, seemingly spontaneously, the rhythmic potential in an endless array of everyday household and industrial objects: toilet plungers, plastic bags, Zippo lighters, push brooms, wooden poles, hammer handles, garbage cans, matchboxes — yes, even the kitchen sink. Dialogue-free, the show unfolds as a series of sketches in which various characters emerge solely through gesture, dance and cadence, with some witty visual humor to match the mind-blowing displays of rhythmic skill.

”Stomp” has been running for over 20 years in New York City and is intimately associated with that urban milieu. But it actually originated in the coastal town of Brighton, England, in 1991. This week’s two performances at the UMass Fine Arts Center Concert Hall will offer an updated and restructured version of the show, including two new routines featuring tractor-tire inner tubes and paint cans.

Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. $15, $45, $55 general admission; $15, $20, $30 Five College and GCC students and youth 17 and under. fac.umass.edu, 545-2511

Projecting possibilities

You probably won’t catch Guy Sherwin’s movie “Railings” at your local mall cinema, since it was designed to be projected in a “vertical format,” i.e., with the projector lying on its side. Nor are you likely to see Malcolm Le Grice’s “Castle One (The Light Bulb),” which calls for a bare lightbulb in a winker socket to be hung from the ceiling and flash intermittently throughout the film (which itself contains shots of a flashing lightbulb suspended from the ceiling). Then there’s Paul Sharits’ “Shutter Interface,” which makes use of superimposed projection, with two images presented in a partially-overlapping format “to remove the barriers between sight and sound and create compound synesthetic sensations.”

In fact, while digital moviemaking now reigns in the commercial world, these artists — members of the New York-based Filmmakers’ Cooperative — have revived the 16mm genuine-acetate-film format to boldly go where their imaginations take them.

Set for a screening Monday at A.P.E. Gallery in Northampton, “Projection Instructions” is a program of films from the co-op’s collection, each of which involves special instructions to the projectionist. Ranging from detailed specifications and visual diagrams to statements emphasizing flexibility and improvisation, the directives are intended to “reconfigure the traditional architecture between projector, spectator and screen” and to “underscore the performative dimension of cinematic exhibition.”

Part of X (Unknown Quantity, an experimental film series initiated by Amherst College’s Joshua M. Guilford, the 75-minute program begins at 7 p.m. $5 admission. A.P.E. is at 126 Main St. in Northampton.

— Dan DeNicola