home page borsa acquisti
editrice elèuthera foreign rights media catalogo universita percorsi eventi contatti  
book data sheet
Summary  
La Cecla, Minnella
L'APE - Antropologia su tre ruote



2009
volume fotografico a colori
96 pp.- fotografie di Melo Minnella
EAN 9788898860241
 
THE APE CAR
THE ONLY POP WAY TO TRAFFIC



illustrated b/n and colour – photos by Melo Minnella


The three-wheeled Ape – or the Lapa, as it is commonly known in Sicily – is the ultimate democratic vehicle. It accommodates popular creativity, and the notion that objects can be put to use in all kinds of different ways. The Lapa is like a doll whose dresses can be changed at will. This is why it can be turned into an ice cream van, a cab; it can transport vegetables or take your cousins for a ride... From Italy to India, from Vietnam to China the Ape has been constantly reinterpreted and reinvented to match local transport traditions. It is the vehicle that allows people to inhabit the streets in all kinds of different ways, and thus blend into their specific culture. Just like in Sicily, it has become the updated version of the traditional carretto, in India, it has substituted the elephant, but it has also become the altar where the Bollywood versions of ancient sagas are depicted. No other vehicle best represents soft globalization, which does not ruin people's lives but makes it easier while respecting and adapting to the endless diversity of their customs. Indeed, Lape manage to blend into the most exotic contexts and to become integral part of the cityscape and rural environment of any country and does not have the stupid pretension of other cars to take precedence over the environment. The playful approach the text and the images adopt to narrate the Lapa prompts the reader to go beyond the surface of familiar things. With its anthropological approach to everyday life, the book also urges the readers to look at themselves as the primeval anthropological subjects, as "primitives" so to speak.

Franco La Cecla (Palermo 1950), anthropologist and urban theorist, has taught Cultural Anthropologist at Berkeley, Paris, Venice, Bologna and Milan.

Melo Minnella (Mussomeli, 1937) first published his photos in the 1950s in the most important Italian progressive weekly of the time, "Il Mondo" edited by Mario Pannunzio. He has managed as few have done, to document the rich artistic, folkloric and human heritage of Sicily.

rassegna stampa
Mon 17 Aug 2015 - Nuovosoldo.it
La lapa il mondo su tre ruote
Mon 07 Nov 2011 - La Stampa
Il ronzio fashion dell'Ape
Mon 03 May 2010 - La Stampa
Le due ruote? Meglio davanti
Tue 06 Apr 2010 - AT Casa
Tutti pazzi per l'ape
Sat 13 Feb 2010 - Eco di Bergamo
L'Ape: piccola lenta e sobria
Thu 17 Dec 2009 - Auto e Design
Books
Wed 30 Sep 2009 - Corriere Motori
Da leggere
Sat 19 Sep 2009 - Il Riformista
Fenomenologia dell'Ape
Sun 13 Sep 2009 - Il Secolo XIX
L'Ape, tre ruote proletarie alla conquista del mondo
Sat 22 Aug 2009 - TTL La Stampa
Il mondo in tre ruote
Tue 28 Jul 2009 - L'Unita
Passione a Tre ruote, L'Ape
Wed 22 Jul 2009 - Terra
A spasso per il mondo sulle mitiche tre ruote
Sun 05 Jul 2009 - Il Sole 24Ore
La saggezza degli oggetti
Fri 03 Jul 2009 - Brescia Oggi
Pagine Scritte
Sat 20 Jun 2009 - La Repubblica
I mille volti della lapa
Fri 19 Jun 2009 - La Repubblica
Tre ruote la leggenda dell'Ape
Tue 16 Jun 2009 - Vita
Antropologia della Lapa
Tue 16 Jun 2009 - Il Tirreno
Si viaggiare
Tue 16 Jun 2009 - Liberal
Elogio dell'Ape
materiali
Indice - .pdf