The conference series brings together scholars to develop a space of discussion that explores the potential of human making in arts and nature’s generative processes (natura naturans) manifested in artful shapes, figures and forms. Creative processes (poiesis) understood as a play-function as the remarkable scholar Johann Huizinga once proposed, refer not only to poetry but to all human artifice, allowing us to evaluate both the creative process and the materials from which human make things. In this regard, it is necessary to consider poiesis in a broader context, encompassing all forms of creation (fingere) and shaping (fictio). The act of playing (ludere) with artefacts and devices provides a platform for experimental thinking and composition in immersive cultures that encompass both spiritual experience (performative games and religious plays) and simulation (ranging from magical artifacts operating between game and experiment, to automata and computer games). Further, a general analogy between art making and nature’s dynamic forces, enables us at the same time to consider the horizon of nature’s form-forming processes that bring forward a broad spectrum of ludi naturae. To explore the phenomenon of generative processes and creative playing departing from a variety of angles, methodologies, and case studies will significantly broaden the field of artful play - playful art, and will shed light on understanding image making shaping processes and the multiple ways in which humans have been, and continue to be, playfully entangled with their beautiful devices and artefacts across diverse cultural spaces throughout history.