From outside, the Step Gallery on the Tempe campus appears to be abandoned. The windows are veiled with black paper, and if it wasn’t for the tiny beam of light coming from behind the door, one would assume it was empty.

However, upon entering the gallery, the clamor of Mill Avenue quickly dissipates and soft, meditative music can be heard throughout the room.

“I’m trying to provide an environment where you can lose yourself momentarily,” said Jason Ripper, the artist behind the interactive “Mandala” exhibit.

Unlike most galleries, the walls are colorless. Instead, an intricate circular design known as a mandala and made entirely of duct tape is sprawled over the floor.

“Most art deals with the walls,” Ripper said. “We never look down at our feet and see what’s below us, so I thought I’d change the focus.”

Although Ripper, a graduate student studying intermedia at the Herberger College of the Arts, designed the centerpiece mandala, gallery visitors are the real artists.

A heap of duct tape sits in the corner, and Ripper encourages guests to use the tape to create their own floor designs.

“It’s kind of interesting to see where it is going,” Ripper said, admiring the multicolored designs made by previous guests that surround his centerpiece.

At the exhibit opening reception on Wednesday, fellow intermedia graduate student Siri Khandavilli kneeled on the floor, equipped with yellow and red tape, preparing to create her own work of art.

“Usually you go to galleries and you see what’s already been made by the artist,” Khandavilli said. “But here, everyone is an artist. I really like the idea of public interaction.”

With “Mandala,” Ripper aims for community involvement and hopes that students will take advantage of the exhibit to escape from the stresses of everyday life.

“It was just a blank floor when I came in,” Ripper said. “By the end, I’d like the entire gallery floor to be covered up.”

“Mandala” runs until Sept. 18 at the Step Gallery, a student-run gallery located in the Tempe Center near Mill Avenue and University Drive. The gallery is open Monday to Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.