Live Coding / Weaving -- Penelopean Mêtis and the Weaver-Coder's Kairos

Drawing on my experience as a critical interlocutor within the Weaving Codes, Coding Weaves project (2014 -- 2016, http://kairotic.org/), in this paper I propose potential points of connection between Ancient weaving and live coding, considering both practices through the prism of the Ancient Greek concept of technē, a species of tactical knowledge combining the principles of mêtis (cunning intelligence) and kairos (opportune timing). Specifically, this enquiry addresses the human qualities of attention, cognitive agility and tactical intelligence activated within both live coding and live weaving, arguing that such practices might have potential as ‘practices of the self’, as a means for cultivating a more critical mode of human agency and subjectivity.