Historic "States" sign

Created in 1984, STATES was a crucial alternative space for the Coimbra rock scene, a cultural symbol of the city, whose original sign in metal, neon and red acrylic is now intended to be restored to preserve this collective memory.

Founded in 1984, States began as a nightclub similar to others in Coimbra, but in 1986, under the direction of Jorge Peixoto (“Jó”), it transformed into an alternative space that profoundly marked the city's music scene. With bands like Devo and The Cramps, it became a meeting point for a generation discovering rock, punk, and post-punk. The legendary Wednesday matinees, which led many students to skip classes, helped musically shape several musicians from Coimbra. More than just a nightclub, States was a space for cultural affirmation and identity building. It closed permanently on New Year's Eve 2016/2017, remaining a symbol of a vibrant era in the city.
.
This sign dates from 1984. It consists of spaced metal letters fixed to a metal substructure. Each letter originally had a tubular glass element through which noble gas flowed, giving it its characteristic illumination when exposed to electric light. The letters are encased in a red acrylic element. The restoration of this sign will allow us to preserve and publicly display an essential graphic element of the nightlife and music scene of the city of Coimbra. By contributing to this campaign, you help to restore this sign in its original form and lighting, ensuring its preservation and maintenance for the memory and enjoyment of all citizens. Since it was not possible to recover the tubular glass elements, the internal lighting of this sign will be designed to approximate the original image as closely as possible. The acrylics also need repair, and the metal part needs treatment and consolidation.

To learn more about the STATES nightclub: https://www.dn.pt/arquivo/diario-de-noticias/states-uma-discoteca-difere...

About the author

Tipos de Coimbra is a non-profit project that aims to rescue the advertising signs still existing on the face of the city of Coimbra that are at risk of loss or destruction, removing them from the facades in order to preserve and restore them. It lives at the intersection of memory, history, art and technology, as a temporal testimony of a genius loci and a timeless one for the re-signification of a sense of belonging. As a permanently evolving project, with a collection that grows with each rescue, the objective is also to restore and exhibit the reclaimed elements from the streets. The collection currently has 50 pieces, a collection that presents elements in glass with neon, acrylic light boxes, metal sheets and other artifacts, from various decades, which bear witness to different eras of the graphic image of the city of Coimbra, while aiming to capture the graphic, technological and typographic element that once filled the urban landscape. The project aims to evolve into a museum structure, with the objective of promoting exhibitions and publications, in order to introduce the public to the technologies and typography of these signs and advertisements, while also documenting the stories of the brands, companies, and people associated with these elements. In addition to the current collection, negotiations are also underway to enable the recovery of approximately ten signs in Coimbra and neighboring towns.

https://www.instagram.com/letrasdecoimbra

This project was created by two people:

Rafael Vieira (Coimbra, 1979) is an architect and contributing journalist, with a master's degree in Urban Rehabilitation and a postgraduate degree in Collaborative Investigative Journalism. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Sociology - Cities and Urban Cultures at FEUC. He recovers graphic memories of the city through the project Tipos de Coimbra (with Liliana Marante), maintains the Coimbrastreetart collection, and is an activist in the collectives Eu Também Coimbra and Coimbr'a Pedal. Winner of several journalistic and literary awards, he published the book "Os Salatinas - Coimbra da Saudade" by the FMS Foundation and co-directed the documentary "Salatinas - História da Velha Alta de Coimbra".

Liliana Marante (Águeda, 1985) is the other mediator of the Tipos de Coimbra project. A psychologist and body therapist, she holds a master's degree in clinical and health psychology from FPUL and a postgraduate degree in dance and movement in psychotherapy from FPCEUC. She is interested in exploring movement in space as occupation and identity. The study of the conceptualization/structure of liminal spaces, and the spatial relationship that forms between things, narratively and experientially, has been the subject of her work, including interspecies interactions and interactions with living objects through memory.

Budget and due dates

The budget covers the restoration of the sign's components, namely the lettering and metal substructure, the acrylic part, and the electrical components to be created/recreated from scratch. The costs are distributed as follows:

Treatment and preparation of the metal elements of the letters and substructure: €120

- Arrangement of red acrylic elements, installation of the lighting system, updated electrical diagram, electrical connection materials and labor, sealing and replacement of elements, as well as new fixings: €209

- Protection and finishing: final cleaning of the sign, UV protection for acrylic, final anti-corrosion treatment and general inspection of fixings: €50

- Transport and installation of the sign, final functionality and fixing test, dismantling and transport: €75 (corresponding to four transport trips and storage in a warehouse)

- PPL Commissions: €46.13

Total: €500

Images