An extremely wide variety of different types of objects are suitable for use in a TOK exhibition. Students are encouraged to choose objects that are of personal interest and that they have come across in their academic studies and/or their lives beyond the classroom.
It is strongly recommended that students base their exhibition on one of the themes (the core theme or one of the optional themes). This can be an extremely useful way to help students narrow down their choice of objects and give a focus to their exhibition.
The objects may be digital rather than physical objects. For example, students could include a photograph of an object, such as a historical treaty, where it would not be practical/possible for them to exhibit the physical object. Students may also use digital objects such as a tweet by a political leader. However, they must be specific objects that have a specific real-world context—objects that exist in a particular time and place (including virtual spaces). They may be objects that the student has created themselves, but they must be pre-existing objects rather than objects created specifically for the purposes of the exhibition.
The specific real-world context of each object is extremely important to the task. It is, therefore, important that students identify specific objects to discuss rather than using generic objects and generic images from the internet. For example, a discussion and photograph of a student’s baby brother is an example of an object that has a specific real-world context, whereas a generic image of “a baby” from an internet image search is not.
Examples of the diverse kinds of objects students could select include the following:
A tweet from the President of the United States
An image of the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso
The student’s own extended essay (EE)
A basketball used by the student during their physical education lessons
The graphic novel The Colour of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa
A painting that the student created in their DP visual arts course
A refillable water bottle provided to each student in a school as part of a sustainability initiative
A news article from the popular website Buzzfeed
A photograph of the student playing in an orchestra
Further guidance on the role of objects in the exhibition and examples of student exhibitions can be found in the Theory of knowledge teacher support material.
The image of each object used in the exhibition must be appropriately referenced. If an object is the student’s own original work (for example, a painting that they created in a visual arts class) then this should be identified and acknowledged to ensure that teachers and moderators are clear about the origins of the object.