Abstract: “Event” as a current notion is of great significance to the contemporary study of philosophy and sociology. In recent years， an inevitable trend for research field of literary and art is that “event” starts to refer to the instability of the nascence and evolution of text/artwork in time and space. The theory of art which relies on material structure is unable to deal with some crucial problems like how to give the definition and evaluation of art a response because of theatricalization， relationalization and contextualization in contemporary art's high performativity. Therefore， new territories desperately need to be pioneered for “events” as an analytical tool in the study of art， which means such amelioration can reveal the level of events that have been hidden for a long time， and can also crystalize a fundamental concept simultaneously，that is to say， the foundation of integrating various media， actions， concepts， and situations under the name of “art” is the unity of eventness and materiality in art. The expansion of the definition of art in the event dimension facilitates a new round of remodeling of perspectives and methods in the study of art.

Key words: definition of art; event; eventness; materiality