JAMAICA, NY.- Spring brings the return of buds, flowers and leaves, along with many birds from their southern winter havens. This spring, Queens Library invites you to return for a visit to catch the Library’s latest exhibit, TRANS_, on view April 30 through June 10 at the Central Library Gallery, 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica , curated by Juliana Driever.

The show runs during all public service hours at the Gallery: Monday to Friday: 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.; Sunday 12 – 5 p.m. Admission is free; all ages are welcome. Call the Gallery at 1-718-990-8665 for more details.

TRANS_ considers the transnational movement of people, images and ideas and provides a space in which to reflect upon the multiple relationships world cultures have to one another. As a result of ever-increasing global exchange, one may begin to view culture as a continually changing and elastic phenomenon – as a process and not a stasis. Following this logic, we see that it is not only the patterns of human migration that inform our dynamic global reality, but also the mass mediation of images and ideas that, in the words of social anthropologist, Arjun Appadurai, allow us the “capacity to aspire” to “possible worlds and imagined selves.” By taking a holistic approach to this issue, the exhibition seeks to address the many broad and complex concerns of transcultural movement including: both the immediate/extended and the public/private effects of the immigrant experience; the popularization and oversimplification of culturally-specific images and practices; and the greater, macrocosmic forces which drive this cross-cultural movement. Participating artists: Nicole Awai, Shelly Bahl, Tom Bogaert, YaQin Betty Chou, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Ingo Günther, Jenny Polak and Juana Valdes.

Gallery Talks with Library Exhibitions Curator Juliana Driever are set for upcoming Thursdays: May 10 and May 24 at 4 PM at Central Library Gallery , Jamaica . Several related programs for children and teens are scheduled in May and June, (all materials provided) including making personalized postcards (May 1, 4 PM at Central Library Area B); storytelling and writing workshops on Tuesdays (May 8, 4 PM at Central Library Auditorium; May 15, 22, 29, 4 PM at Central Library Area B); making origami boats (June 5, 4 PM, Central Library Area B); a Saturday, May 1, 3 PM concert by African Blue Note in the Central Library Auditorium; and a Saturday, May 26, 3 PM concert of Dominican music, Merengue/Fusion, at Langston Hughes Community Library.

Bring your class to a free tour with related art activity, geared toward any age group. Start discussions about the cross-cultural migrations of people, art and cultural traditions. To set up a visit, call Central Library’s Gallery at 718-990-8665. Or visit online this winter into spring at: www.queenslibrary.org/gallery

Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system. The Queens Library serves a population of 2.2 million in the most ethnically diverse county in the United States . As the nation’s busiest public library, Queens Library continues to have one of the highest circulations in the world, with a record-breaking 20.2 million items loaned in Fiscal Year 2006. For more information about Library programs, services, locations, events and news, visit the Queens Library Web site at www.queenslibrary.org or phone 718-990-0700. Queens Library Enrich Your Life™.