Organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Istanbul Design Biennial runs through December 13. You can see the work by more than 300 designers and architects from 46 countries, and catalog the richness and increasing ubiquity of ad hoc design.

Adhocracy, by Joseph Grima, is a perfect example of how to explore and communicate weighty ideas, and a must-visit for anyone in Istanbul in the next few months. Taking place at the historical Galata Greek Primary School, surveys the contemporary design scene in the wake of a social and technological revolution that has transformed the realm of design in recent years.

There is a fantastic room dedicated to different iterations of the cheap, simple Arduino circuit board which includes a Geiger counter produced in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake. There are bikes and furniture consisting of fixtures that can be used as the basis for the finished product, with whatever happens to be at hand filling in the gaps, and even 3D printers appear in novel and unexpected ways, producing Nutella sculptures and mini souvenirs of visitors’ bodies.

Apart from the two main exhibitions, the biennial programme involves a wide range of events, including the academy and seminar programmes, workshop presentations, film screenings, parallel participant events, and design walks.