‘Stretching My Skin’ a Painful Experience

One of the more unfortunate legacies of modern psychology is the automatic assumption that intimate revelations are inherently valuable. Case in point: a tour through the autobiographically based personal symbology of performance artist Elia Arce in her solo work, “Stretching My Skin Until It Rips Whole,” presented as part of the Women’s Festival at Highways.

In a presentation that emphasizes the visual over the verbal, Arce explores her bicultural heritage as a transplanted Costa Rican through a series of slow-moving ritualistic tableaux replete with alienation, fear and rage. Arce’s confrontational personal psychodramas dubiously masquerading as universal insights include writhing nude in a bathtub to re-enact her birth trauma, smashing her mother’s portrait and plucking feathers from a dead chicken then scattering them around the stage to rhythmic chant.

Recurring imagery of arrested development at some orally fixated stage (pouring milk over her own baby picture or serving up her breasts on a platter) suggest an infantile tantrum. Arce tries unsuccessfully to immerse spectators in her experience with deliberate intrusions into the audience.

But when she moaned about being trapped and unable to scream, I knew exactly how she felt.

* “Stretching My Skin Until It Rips Whole,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Tonight-Sunday, 8:30 p.m. Ends Sunday. $10. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.