Most of the biennale events around the world have been canceled or postponed because of the pandemic, but "we don't allow the pandemic to silence artists. In fact artists are working extensively during the pandemic, making insightful reflections on the situation and the human existence", Jaque told China Daily on April 19 in a video call from Beijing, where the curator was under quarantine.

In his written interpretation of the theme, Jaque wrote that the 13th Shanghai Biennale "looks into the liquid nature of human, more than-human, and post-human bodies, and into the fluid ways in which they infiltrate, constitute, and relate to one another".

Although the pandemic made the preparation work complicated and difficult, Jaque said that the biennale and its discussion of the pandemic has turned out more relevant than ever. "Bodies of water", its fluidity and interconnections, has been the center of the pandemic, "so we decided not to cancel the biennale", he said. Instead, the first phase of the biennale kicked off right on time as planned, in November, taking an unprecedented "in crescendo" form that will go on for eight months.