LONDON — What do the following have in common? A bucket made out of a basketball? The programming code for a computer virus? An inexpensive prosthetic leg? The logistical plan for a political protest in Cairo? A barcode illustrating a gorilla’s DNA? A cramped metal cage converted into a makeshift home?

The answer is that they are all identified as unsung examples of design in “Unnamed,” an exhibition running through Oct. 23 at the Gwangju Design Biennale in South Korea. Curated in absentia by the Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei, who was imprisoned during the final phase of research and banned from leaving China to participate in the installation, “Unnamed” explores the role of design in projects with which it would not traditionally have been associated. The show argues that design is not solely the preserve of professional designers but can also be the work of scientists, activists, computer programmers, hackers and anyone else who applies ingenuity, originality, strategic thinking and other qualities that are indispensable to good design.

The concept of design as a fluid, instinctive process, open to everyone, is increasingly popular. Some of the projects in “Unnamed” also feature in other current design shows, including “Talk to Me” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and “Power of Making” at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The thinking behind “open design” sounds sensible, as well as being generous and inclusive, but what are its implications? Is there anything to be gained by redefining things that have long been described, seemingly successfully, as scientific, political, technological or just plain resourceful as design? And could anything be lost by doing so?