The Volkskundemuseum (Austrian Museum of Folklife and Folk Art) in Vienna considers itself to be a thoroughly democratic, polyphonic museum in which not only cooperation partners but also the interested public have their say. But what role does academically researched information play? In the project "Speaking of Objects" participants took a close look at selected objects themselves and produced new narratives to share with the public through self-made podcasts. The project was led by Austrian artist group "gecko art." In another project queer stories were invented for the performative tour entitled "Queer local history" by members of QWIEN -- Center for Queer History. The stories drew attention to the heteronormative interpretation of the museum curators of the 1990s, or as Andreas Brunner and Hannes Sulzenbacher said: "One invents the homosexualization of the object, just as the museum or the curator invents the heterosexualization of the object." In this contribution we not only present but also question the mediation methods that are full of fiction. The question raised here is if and when it is valid to invent stories about objects that could be mistaken for truth by the public.