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Gender, alternative and independent magazine, distributed in Barcelona and Madrid

Bettina Costa loves the freedom of art

Bettina Costa came to Switzerland from Argentina in 2001 and moved to Rheinfelden in 2006. The artist loves the town and believes that art plays an important role here. She created the first digital Advent calendar for the town of Rheinfelden.

Janine Tschopp — NEUE FRICKTALER ZEITUNG (Newspaper of Frick valley, Switzerland)
Freitag, 19 December 2025

RHEINFELDEN. Anyone visiting Bettina Costa in Rheinfelden is in for a treat: an immersive art experience. From simple objects, like a paintbrush artfully placed on the wall, to her very own Christmas tree adorned with small, colorful baubles. Even her most recent works are impressive in their simplicity. The artist has a fundamental love for the abstraction and the surreal collages are among her favorite creations.

Why a bear?
Bettina Costa created the collage, which is currently on display as a digital Advent calendar on the Rheinfelden Tourism website, where visitors to the site can open a door every day. «Why is it a bear, of all things, that rises out of the Rhine in front of the Rheinfelden skyline and clings to the oversized cinnamon sticks? In Rheinfelden, you would have expected a goat instead…», the NFZ asked the artist. And this question suits Bettina Costa perfectly. For her, art means being free. «Free from reason and logic, so that the artistic subconscious and spontaneous mood can take control.» This is how she describes her series «Surreal Collage», which includes the abstract image of the digital Advent calendar.

Art discovered early on
Bettina Costa loved drawing and painting even as a child. «Yes, I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands», she explains. She was born and raised in Argentina. Her father – from whom she inherited her talent – was a painter and worked in advertising. When Bettina Costa expressed her desire to become a painter as a teenager, he said, «How do you intend to make a living?». So she studied IT and became a software engineer. But painting and art never left her. It was over 25 years ago that she began to pursue art alongside her work.

In Switzerland since 2001
Love brought Bettina Costa to Switzerland in 2001, first to Laufen. Five years later, the couple found a home in Rheinfelden, where they quickly became happy. She soon discovered the «open studios». She was fascinated by the fact that artists opened their private doors and invited the public to gain exciting insights into their work. Shortly after arriving in Rheinfelden, she met like-minded artists from the region and travelled with them to various art exhibitions in Europe. In 2016, she took part in the cross-border juried group exhibition «Kunst lokal» for the first time. For her first participation, she focused on the famous dance of her homeland, the tango. She brought the «Vereda del Tango» – in various neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, there are painted areas on the pavement that show the tango steps – to Switzerland for the first time and created the «Vereda del Tango» at the Kurbrunnenanlage in Rheinfelden, 11255 kilometres from Buenos Aires. Her second participation in «Kunst lokal» was based on the theme «Rheinfelden surreal» and dealt with her place of residence in a humorous way. She wanted to show striking corners of the Zähringer town, sometimes as surreal, absurd and grotesque backdrops. «The photo collages are invitations to rediscover Rheinfelden in a whole new way», says the artist.

Commitment to «open studios»
Since 2001, the Cultural Office in Rheinfelden has organised the «open studios» every two years. Since artists have expressed the desire of this event to take place annually, a new organisation entity was created. Together with Gabriela Lützelschwab and Margrit Imper, Bettina Costa forms the project team that will organise the «open studios» – the largest decentralised art exhibition in the region – every year in future. «The next event will take place on 12 and 13 September 2026», says Bettina Costa happily.
When you meet Bettina Costa, it is clear that she is an artist through and through. «Art just happens», she laughs, adding: «Creating things fulfils me.» The 60-year-old recently took early retirement and can now devote herself fully to her great passion, which has fascinated her since childhood.

View original article in German

May 14, 2025
As part of the Frauen(k)leben exhibition at the Swiss National Library, today I had the opportunity to coach a class from the Kirchenfeld secondary school and pass on my experience about working with paper collage. It was great fun!

#swissnationallibrary #womenshistory #womenshistorymonth #collageart #museenbern #museumquartierbern