DMJ – SMS to Eternity
Marlon and Elvis lived on opposite
sides of Cutlers Wood.
They were friends.
They were immortal.
One day Marlon sent Elvis an
SMS:
Marlon – Hey Elvis, cool cat, why
don’t we see each other more often,
We could talk about that geek Warhol who put us here!
Elvis – Sure, but I am scared to walk
through the forest – there are
monsters and giant scissors that cut
cats like us in strips.
Marlon – Scaredy-cat, and by the
way, you should lay off those
substances,
but hey, we both got wheels – a
highway around Cutlers Wood will
bring us closer.
This wish was soon granted,
that’s how it is if you are immortal.
Elvis – Highways finished!
Marlon – I’m on my way – but which
way?
Elvis – Out your door – ride your
chopper left – I’ll do the same in my
Cadilac,
See ya soon buddy.
Marlon – Elvis you crumb – I came to
see ya…………………….. no-one home!
Elvis – and me you! Lets try again
tomorrow.
This procedure went on for a few thousand years (that’s how it is if
you are immortal).
Until Elvis showing signs of
Alzheimer’s turned right by
mistake.
They finally met in front of a big billboard and when backslapping greetings had subsided…….
Hey – who’s that in my Cadillac on
the billboard? Demanded Elvis
To which Marlon drawled – looks like
Mies van der Rohe in Philip
Johnson’s Cadi.
‘Lonesome highway – even Mies on
our lonesome highway’, crooned
Elvis, as he would for the next
millennium.
*
Peter Wilson is an architect who grew up in Australia, where he studied architecture for three years before running away to complete his degree at the Architectural Association. Some 45 years later Melbourne University reeled him in to give him an honorary doctorate; this was a few years after the Australian Architects Institute had awarded him its annual Gold Medal on the basis of built works in Europe and Japan by the German-based office of BOLLES+WILSON. Wilson’s early theoretical research on narrative in architecture is the subject of a special issue of the Journal of Architecture. Other monographs include: Inspiration and Process (2011) and El Croquis (nos. 47, 67, 105). He is the author of Western Objects – Eastern Fields (AA, 1986), Some Reasons for Travelling to Italy (MIT Press, 2022), Some Reasons for Travelling to Albania (About Books, 2019) and Baldness and Modernism (About Books, 2025). BOLLES +WILSON have recently completed the National Library of Luxembourg and some 30 projects in Albania’s Korça, filling out their 2009 International Masterplan Competition win.
The article is included in the third issue of DMJournal, Storytelling.
